The Legend of Zelda: The Shattered Realms
by Kherezae
Summary: Link starts having nightmares he can't remember, nightmares like the ones Zelda has had for seven years. Ever since Ganondorf disappeared, plucked from Hyrule's throne room the day Link and Zelda met. The Ocarina bent back time to undo Ganondorf's destruction, but its magic is wearing thin. [OoT/MM] [On Hold Indefinitely]
1. Prologue : Seven Years Ago

**Prologue : Seven Years Ago**

Something was wrong.

Link had just managed to sneak his way deep into the castle. He made it to an interior courtyard where a girl peeked at a window, and he was getting ready to approach her when the wave of nausea hit. He staggered and put a hand to his stomach, then leaned forward against a bout of vertigo that nearly brought him to his knees.

A loud ringing filled his head. He had the most intense feeling of missing something going on in the other room. Ahead of him, the girl put a hand to her forehead and swayed, then turned and met his eyes.

Immediately the feelings of ill ease dissipated, but he felt as if a fog fell over him. The girl's brow furrowed as she stared at him. "I… know you," she said, her voice soft.

She looked familiar to Link in a way he couldn't describe, but he knew he'd never seen her before in his life. He shook his head and took a few steps forward. He felt the way his forehead wrinkled, a mirror of her confusion.

Gradually her expression began to clear. She lowered her hand from her head, interlocking her fingers against her skirt. The sigil of the royal family was emblazoned on the fabric behind her hands, the three golden triangles of the Triforce above a red bird-like design. "I've dreamed about you," she said. "A boy all in green, a boy with a fairy, come from the forest. You're here to help. You're here because of him." She turned back to the window and peered through. Her head turned from side to side, and then she pulled back, raising her fingers to her lips. "He's gone."

"Who?" Link asked, stepping up onto the marble platform beside her. He could hear raised voices coming from the room she spied on, along with the clatter of weapons and armor.

"Ganondorf. The Gerudo king." She shook her head, the corners of her mouth pulling down. "It's like he just… disappeared." She breathed in sharply as she watched through the tiny window. "Oh, no…"

Link ducked so that he could peek through beside the girl. He could just see a handful of women in gauzy, midriff-baring clothing pressed up against a line of castle guards. All of them had hands on their weapons, though none were drawn, and raised voices echoed from the walls. "You bring him back! You dishonor the Gerudo in your own palace! You invite war with us!"

And the king's voice: "What sorcery is this? I'll have none of your tricks in my castle! Leave at once!"

The girl turned slightly to look at Link. Her face was inches from his. "Did you do this?"

"No!" He met her eyes. "I don't even know what's going on."

Sudden weight on his shoulder made him jump and whirl around. A woman with white hair and deep red eyes had one hand on his shoulder and one on the girl's. She drew them away from the window. "Link. Princess. It isn't safe here. I will escort you to your chambers."

Link started to pull away. What was going on? This strange woman knew his name. He didn't have chambers in the castle. Where was she taking him? But Navi settled on his shoulder and spoke, her voice soft and urgent: "Trust her, Link. Do what she says. I have to go. Your quest here is done. The Great Deku Tree has summoned me back."

The Great Deku Tree was dead last time Link saw it. But Kokiri did not question their fairies. Link wouldn't either.

* * *

Locked in a guest chamber that night, Link found it almost impossible to sleep. The feather bed was far too soft. Too many strange things were happening around him. And he didn't like the feeling of being trapped. When he finally fell asleep, horrible nightmares came to him: flashes of pure terror, fighting for his life in a dozen deadly situations that wouldn't clarify long enough for him to find a strategy. He thrashed hard enough to nearly knock himself from the bed, and the sensation of falling ripped him awake. There were no more pillows on the bed. The blanket hung off one corner.

He heard or felt something—maybe a breath, maybe a footstep—and knew he wasn't alone. He scrambled away over the bed and rolled off the other side. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. "Link, it is just me. Impa. The princess' guardian." The woman from the courtyard seemed to melt out of the shadows. The lines of paint extending down her cheeks looked like ghosts trying to escape her eyes.

He pushed himself up against the opposite wall of the room. "What do you want?"

"I didn't mean to frighten you." There was something false about the lightness of her tone. "I heard you in here. It sounded like you were having trouble sleeping." She slipped a small set of pipes from the sash at her waist. "I thought I might be able to help."

The thundering in Link's chest slowly began to ease, but suspicion weighed heavily on him. "What happened today? I heard things, but I've been locked in this room…"

"Don't worry about that now," Impa said. She gestured to the bed. "Just try to sleep for now. We can talk about everything else in the morning." She didn't wait for him to respond. She set the pipes against her lips and began to play.

It was a short, happy melody that seemed eerily familiar. Despite his unease Link found that calm rolled through him and made his eyelids heavy. He slid toward the bed and climbed back up, but he didn't lie down. He sat with his arms hugged around his knees, watching her play.

When the last note faded away, she said, "Zelda's Lullaby. It has sent the princess off to sleep more nights than you could count." She put the pipes away and tilted her head, watching him. "Sleep, Link. You'll need it."

He didn't want to listen, but his body obeyed her command. When he drifted off, no nightmares came calling. He was alone in the dark with Zelda's Lullaby haunting the back corner of his mind.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I'd love your feedback. This will update on Tuesdays. I've uploaded the first two chapters today to catch me up to my progress on my Wattpad account. If you like my work, please find me there, where my name is Karrie Zai.**


	2. Chapter 1 : Nightmares

**01 : Nightmares**

There was evil surrounding Link, closing in on all sides. Adrenaline threatened to choke him as he spun—front, back, his sides—but he couldn't make out the source of the danger. Just shadows shifting inward, sounds that set the hair at the back of his neck on end, and the thunder of his heart against his ribs.

Something scaly slipped across his elbow and he jerked upward, hands clenching around the hilt of the Sword—but he grasped nothing, and his fingers curled into fists. Moonlight seared through the nightmare shadows around him and calmed the panic beating against his ribcage. His gaze skittered over his surroundings. Paul slept on the pallet next to his, dead to the world as always. The light from the window spilled across the floor next to Link's pallet and cut a stripe on the railing overlooking the first floor.

As his breathing slowed, he found himself humming a familiar melody. He grimaced and shook his head. "What's with these nightmares? It's been every night for three weeks now!" And Zelda's Lullaby always played through his mind after, coaxing him back to sleep.

"Link?" Angie's voice called softly from the bottom of the stairs. "Who are you talking to?"

His eyebrows drew together and he looked over his shoulder, expecting…. But no, Navi hadn't been with him in seven years. She'd only been with him a few days, at that, so why would he imagine she was still with him?

"Link?" Angie said. He heard her take a couple steps on the stairs.

"No one. I'm fine. Just a nightmare." He shook his head and stifled a yawn.

"Another?" There was a long exhale and a low shuffling noise. After a moment, he heard her start up the stairs. She was just a silhouette in the darkness until she came close enough for the moonlight to illuminate her tiny nose and round cheeks. "Has something happened to cause these nightmares?"

He shook his head. He hadn't realized she knew about the nightmares. His thrashing about must've woken her on other nights in the last few weeks. "I'm sorry."

She dismissed the apology with a shake of her head and put a hand on his shoulder. "Nightmares don't just come out of nowhere, Link. They must be some sort of message."

Suddenly he remembered having a similar conversation with Princess Zelda when they were ten. Ever since they'd met she had nightmares she couldn't remember, nightmares a lot like these. "Maybe," he agreed. "I think I need to go to Castle Town."

Angie gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and nodded. "Good. Now see if you can get any sleep." Her smile caught the moonlight for an instant, and then she turned and made her way back down the stairs.

Zelda's Lullaby resounded in his head as he lay back down, swallowing up his thoughts.

* * *

Link left early in the morning with a list of supplies Paul and Angie needed for the house, and it was nearing sunset by the time he made it to Castle Town. That was good time considering the distance he had traveled. He dismounted as he reached the drawbridge and took Epona's lead in hand. The guard at the entrance nodded as he passed; Link didn't recognize the man, but people he'd never met often knew him because of his clothes. The princess' green boy—now the princess' green knight, if only honorarily.

That was part of why he stayed away so long.

He led Epona into the market, smiling and nodding politely at the townspeople even though his mind was elsewhere. There wasn't much time before the market would close down, so he made straight for the castle. The supplies would wait until tomorrow, and anyway, he had questions for the princess. He had to give Epona a tug when she tried to stop for a drink at the fountain at the markets' center. She liked drawing the attention of indignant townspeople. The Goddesses' fountain was a superstitious place for them—a place to make wishes, speak prayers, and meet up with lovers, not a horse's watering trough.

Someone brushed close to Link. He felt not so much a tug as a change in weight at his belt, and his hand whipped out, catching the wrist of his thief. "That's not yours," he said.

A short figure, maybe a boy of eleven or twelve years, dressed and hooded in ragged brown cloth, started to yank his arm from Link's grip, but then winced and looked down. The skin of the boy's inner wrist felt hot and waxy under Link's fingers. He grabbed the boy's arm closer to the elbow and released his wrist, revealing a swollen, irritated brand in the shape of an X. The skin around the brand was an angry red. Link reached out and caught the boy's other arm, which seemed to startle his thief. There was an older X branded on that wrist. "Gun turn me in?" The boy's voice was soft, dead.

"If I did, you'd lose a hand," Link said. He kept a hold on the boy's infected arm and reached into his belt pouch, feeling for the healing potion he kept there. "This brand is fresh. Less than three days old. And infected. Already back to your thieving ways?"

"Gotta eat." Still apathetic. Link might have expected defiance or groveling, but the boy's flat tone was almost unnerving.

He found the potion bottle and raised it, using his teeth to pull the cork free. The boy tried to yank his arm free when he brought the potion close to his wrist, but Link kept a tight grip on his arm and let a few drops spill over the infected brand. The redness faded immediately, drawing inward as if being sucked into the raised skin of the X. The brand itself shrank until it was hardly noticeable. Link gave an extra drop of the potion to heal the X fully, leaving smooth brown skin. He corked the potion and replaced it in his belt, then retrieved his purse from the boy's hand.

His thief was still silent. He didn't meet Link's eyes. Link followed his stare but wasn't sure what he was looking at. Maybe one of the stalls along the western edge of the market. Maybe the sunset or the lengthening shadows it cast. Maybe whatever place he called home was that direction. Link worked the drawstring on his purse free with one hand and his teeth, then dumped a generous portion of rupees into the boy's hand. Several of them spilled loose, tinking against the pavement. That brought the boy's gaze around. He glanced at the rupees, then up at Link. His eye color was impossible to determine with the sunset behind him casting him in shadow.

"This is your second chance." Link glanced toward the boy's other wrist, the one with the old brand. "Or maybe third. Find some work you can do. Some merchant who'll hire you to load his wares, something like that." He let go of the boy's arm. It was impossible to read the boy's expression, but he thought he saw something pass there. Something other than the apathy he'd shown so far. Then the little thief bent to collect the dropped rupees.

He never said another word. After he'd disappeared into the crowd, Link turned to Epona. She snorted and shook her head. "I know. But I can spare it, and he clearly needs it. Maybe it can help him make a change."

It wasn't the first time he had to wonder whether horses could look skeptical.

He sighed and picked up her lead again. "Come on. Let's get to the castle."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Updates will be on Tuesdays from here on out. If you like my work, please check me out on Wattpad too. My name there is Karrie Zai.**


	3. Chapter 2 : Visitation

**02 : Visitation**

Link remembered the days when Princess Zelda could be found in the inner courtyard during spare moments, but he didn't bother going there today. She had less and less leisurely time, and he doubted she had left the throne room yet. Not while sunlight still touched the castle walls, however barely.

But he didn't head there first, even though he was anxious to ask about the nightmares. And he didn't head for the training yard, even though now that he was back here his muscles itched for a good training session with Impa, Kale, and Sheik. In fact, just seeing Kale would be great after so long.

Before any of that, Link felt he owed a visit to the king. His father. It still didn't fit in his head, and somehow he doubted it ever would. But he put Epona up in the stables, gave her a carrot, and then headed straight to the king's suite.

One of the guards at King Harkinian's bedchamber door was unfamiliar, and she moved as if to stop Link when he approached, but the other guard stopped her with a short, "He's allowed to pass." He gave a nod. Link thought his name might be Rudin, but he wasn't sure. How maybe-Rudin knew to let him pass was another mystery. It wasn't widely known that Link was Zelda's brother—technically a prince—but whatever Impa and Zelda told the castle guards, they hadn't stopped him from going anywhere he wanted since he was thirteen years old.

The door closed behind him with a hushed solidness. Long shadows crept through the room from the western-facing window where the sun just clung to the foothills in the distance. There was no other light in the room, so Link crossed to the desk on the north wall and used the flintstriker to wake the ornate quartz-bellied lamp that sat there. Light flooded across a map spread across the desk, one corner held down by the lamp and the opposite by some kind of ledger. Link smoothed his hands outward to flatten the curling corners that had been left unsecured and studied the map.

It only took a glance to catch his breath in his gut. The marks on the map along the border shared with Gerudo Desert made it obvious that their fragile peace might not even qualify as a stand-off anymore. There were at least two dozen marks, each labeled with a date, and most were within the last two years.

Guilt settled uneasily in his stomach. He should have been out there. What was he doing puttering around in Kakariko Village, repairing roofs and fences and letting his training go to rust?

"Who's there?" The king's voice was soft and slow, but it still sent a start running down Link's spine. He'd nearly forgotten why he was here. And then he put the hoarse, weary confusion in the king's voice against the last time he'd seen him. Last year King Harkinian was already growing too ill to spend much time outside his chambers, but he was still sharp; he never failed to recognize someone the moment they entered his rooms, whether they spoke or not. "Who is that?"

Link let the loose corners of the map roll back in and stepped up to the king's bedside. "It's me," he said.

"Link?" He struggled back against his pillows and managed to push himself into a less reclined position, but the way the effort sent his breathing into spasms made Link ache. He couldn't imagine that level of helplessness. The thought of it was enough to whisper panic through his system. After a few moments spent calming his breathing, the king focused his gaze on Link. "Son."

The words that rose into his throat were _King Harkinian_ , but he swallowed them and said instead, "Father." His stare flicked down to his hands, across the room, back to the king's face. "I'm sorry I've been away so long."

He shook his head and swallowed. "I am glad you're here now. I feel it is my fault you have stayed away so long." His speech was slow, and he had to pause for breath. "Impa's reasons were sound, I know, but… I begin to think we took the greater risk by keeping you away from battle."

Impa's reasons? Impa was a powerful presence at the castle, she always had been. But Link never realized she influenced the king's ruling. That she—his teacher in the art of combat—might be the reason he wasn't allowed to be a true soldier or knight. "I thought it was because I'm a prince," he said, though it didn't encompass all the questions the king had brought to the surface.

King Harkinian responded with something part-laugh and part-cough. He covered his mouth with his hand until the wheezing fit was under control, then cleared his throat and stared out the window at the finger-width sliver of remaining sun. "Harkinian princes have been fighters for generations. Your ancestors led their armies in battle." With a faint shake of his head, he turned to look back at Link. "You are a born warrior, I felt it in you the moment I met you. I didn't want to keep you from it, but it seemed… safest. At the time."

He didn't mean he feared for Link's safety in a fight, Link knew that without doubt. But he didn't understand what he was supposed to be kept safe from, if not injury or death in battle. "What do you mean?"

The king shook his head, covering another cough with a trembling hand. Once he recovered, he gave Link an apologetic smile that emphasized the wrinkles around his eyes. "There are larger things at work than you—you or I understand," he got out. He still looked strange without his beard. Despite the wrinkles, he looked younger than he had with the full white beard he'd worn until Link was fifteen. Far too young to be so frail. He'd also lost weight, adding to the image of a shrunken man.

"Why didn't you want me to fight?" Link tried again, his voice soft.

"We didn't want you to remember." King Harkinian's voice was beginning to rasp, light coughs sneaking in between the words.

A rushing sensation swept through Link, like standing on the edge of a precipice with the wind battering him toward a fall. "Remember what?"

But the king cleared his throat and shook his head. "Nothing. I don't know." His voice was so hoarse it was painful to hear him speak, but Link wanted—needed—him to give him answers. "It is nothing. Forget it."

"I can't just forget this, Father," Link said, his voice hot, as he leaned over the bed to get closer to the king. "I need to understand!"

"I can't tell you!" the king snapped, and then he dissolved into a fit of coughing that sent Link into retreat.

What had gotten into him? The king was in no state to be badgered for explanations. Link had come to terms with being denied more than an honorary knighthood years ago, or so he'd thought. Where was this anger coming from? There was a raw feeling inside him, a cavity where something was missing, and the more he prodded at it the more his frustration grew. But he forced those feelings down and returned to the king's bedside, reaching out a hesitant hand for his father's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Please, rest. I didn't mean to agitate you."

King Harkinian turned his face away, a low, dry chuckle scratching its way from his throat. "It is not your fault I am so fragile these days."

Link gave the man's shoulder a light squeeze. "I'll leave you to your rest," he said softly. When he started to pull away, his father put a hand over his. Their eyes met and Link's stomach tightened. In that glance he understood that the king recognized his weak excuse for leaving and that he forgave it.

"Come see me before you leave," he said, the words more request than command.

"Of course." His hand slid free of the king's. He turned and fled the chamber with as much poise as he could manage.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear what you think. Couple of things: first, I have another Legend of Zelda fanfic you might enjoy, The Evil Realm. I'm in the process of uploading revisions here before I get back to regular updates. Second, if you like my work, please follow me on Wattpad. There my name is Karrie Zai. I have some original writing there you might enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 3 : Reunion

**03 : Reunion**

Zelda didn't often have time to train with the Sheikah these days. Running a kingdom, particularly one flirting with war on a near weekly basis, was an endless procession of paperwork, petitions, meetings, paperwork, trials, ceremonies, and more paperwork. It didn't seem to matter how productive she was in a day or whether she worked dawn to dusk with barely a break to eat, it never made a dent in her obligations.

Sometimes she just had to make time. Today was one of those days.

Impa probably hadn't realized Zelda heard the courier who came to alert her of Link's approach. She'd been too involved in a petition about pasture trampled by a border patrol to outwardly react, but she heard every word. Hours passed after the news came in, though Impa never shared it with Zelda, even when her son came to relieve her. That wasn't entirely surprising. But after the sun had set and the throne room's lanterns were lit, she finally realized Link wasn't going to come to her, and that did surprise her.

Maybe it shouldn't have. He well knew how busy she always was. There were other reasons he might avoid the throne room, but she pushed those aside. More than likely he'd gone to the training yard to join the Sheikah. So as she finished up signing a series of decrees on water rationing along the border with the Gerudo, she sighed and pushed the rest of the paperwork on the table away. "That's it for today," she said to the room at large. "We'll resume in the morning."

The buzz of activity around her shifted keys as scribes and advisors moved about their various end-of-business tasks. Zelda stood and rolled her shoulders, stretching her back. She turned to Sheik where he stood with one hand behind him and the other draped over the hilt of one of his knives. He had his mother's uncanny red eyes, but his hair was closer to Zelda's own golden-blonde in color. It did nothing to detract from his eerie aura. "Let's go put in some training with Kale and your mom," Zelda said, her tone an expert play on nonchalance. "I'm out of practice."

"Of course, Princess," Sheik said.

Goddesses, he'd become so stiff in the last year. He'd never been the most excitable person, but at least he used to show relief when she wanted to leave the stuffy functions of the throne room for a good training session. She took off for her royal suite, trusting him to follow behind. "Do you want to stop and change?" she asked as they passed out of the throne room.

"I'd appreciate that, Princess," he agreed.

She could imagine. Their uniforms were made to allow for movement, but it wasn't the same as wearing training clothes. And if he trained in his uniform, he'd have to launder it. So she took a route that would pass them by his quarters and waited in his sitting room for the few minutes it took him to change, then continued on to her own suite. She did sometimes train in dresses because odds were good she'd be wearing one if she ever needed to defend herself, but today wasn't that kind of day, and this wasn't the sort of dress she wanted to waste on the wear and tear of training anyway.

By the time she was outfitted in flexible breeches, a secure bandeau and loose sleeveless tunic, and sturdy fingerless gloves, anxiety had set in as a prickling feeling in her gut. She hadn't seen Link in… she thought back and let out a puff of air at how hard it was to pin down. It had been late autumn? Nearly a year.

She rejoined Sheik in the hallway, and together they made their way to the training yard. When she entered, she was nearly taken out by Kale passing the entrance in a jog around the yard, Link at his heels. Zelda jerked back a step until they'd passed, then took a look for other joggers before crossing onto the dirt path worn around the perimeter of the grassy clearing. Link glanced back as he ran and their eyes caught, but she tore her gaze away to find Impa.

"Glad you could join us!" Kale called, giving Zelda a wave without breaking stride. "Must be a blue moon, you beat Impa here."

Sheik was already joining their jog, so Zelda fell in behind him. "I've missed it," she admitted. Her stare found Link's back and stuck there. Recently when she woke from her nightmares, it was to thoughts of him, and now here he was. "You have no idea how stir-crazy I get stuck in that throne room all day."

Kale's chuckle carried across the yard. "I think I have some idea, Princess," he said.

Fair enough. He was there with her part of the time, and he'd seen her lose her patience at the whole process on more than one occasion.

Impa joined them after a couple of laps, calling a greeting to Link as she entered. She gave them two more laps, then started calling dexterity variants: side steps, weavers, high knees, skippers. By the time they ended with a leap frog chain, an exercise that had serious applications for coordination but never failed to make Zelda laugh, she was warm and buzzing with energy. They broke to stretch. Sheik gave a rare smile as he greeted Link with a quick one-armed hug, then settled down into a straddle.

That left Link and Zelda and the awkward crackling that had returned to her limbs. "Welcome back," she said, trying to keep her discomfort out of her tone. Internally she worked at the familiar but futile task of sorting her feelings for him. As always, he brought a flood of conflicting emotions and a sense that their history was bigger than she understood. Siblings. Twins, in fact. Embarrassment still burned hot in her stomach when she remembered the crush she'd had on him until she was twelve, when Father and Impa sat them down to explain their history. And then there were the nightmares, the way she woke with Link's name on the tip of her tongue, an aching-longing-despairing mess of emotion tangled in her chest.

"Hello Princess," Link said, though everyone present knew full well that he was a prince. The words were designed to create distance, but he said them with warmth in his voice, and then he stepped forward to draw her into a hug.

They were both starting to sweat and neither one smelled their best, but Zelda smiled against his neck before she pulled away. They sat down to stretch, and for a shining moment Zelda's world felt peaceful.

* * *

After training, Zelda convinced Impa with a series of pointed stares to leave her alone with Link. Her safety was the responsibility of the Sheikah, but no one doubted that Link could protect her in the unlikely event of a crisis. It was something else that concerned Impa, and Zelda didn't like to put thought to what it might be.

So the Sheikah left them to go clean up, and Zelda grabbed Link by the wrist and towed him to the inner courtyard where they'd first met. He let her pull him along without a word, a thoughtful frown pulling at his mouth and drawing his eyebrows together. Once they were alone in the courtyard, strolling through purple windflowers past the peak of their bloom, Zelda released his wrist and turned to look at him.

He was an adult now. In the months since she'd last seen him, his face had filled out into the broad planes of a man. She'd thought when she last saw him that he couldn't have much growing left to do, but he was taller than her now, and strong. Broad shoulders, muscles standing out in his arms. She saw a lot of herself in his face, which she supposed was to be expected. It was in the brilliantly blue eyes, the thin nose, the slight point of the chin. He tilted his head under her scrutiny, his jaw flexing. Still with that thoughtful expression. "What is it?" she asked.

He looked away, stepping through the flowers with a hand outstretched to brush past them. As he moved, he stirred a couple fairies from their rest, sending them circling around him with a tinkling noise. "I've been having nightmares," he said finally, and his eyes cut over to hers for just a moment.

She inhaled sharply, turning to keep track of him as he moved around her through the flowers. "Can you remember them?"

"No."

The hope that had burgeoned in her chest deflated, her shoulders dropping. There was something about her nightmares, something important, she _knew_ it but hadn't found answers in the seven years she'd suffered them. That Link was here because of his nightmares was proof enough they were linked to her own, but if he couldn't remember them it didn't really help. She sighed and tried another tactic. "What are they like?"

His answer was immediate, as though he'd been carrying it with him all the way here, just waiting to release it. "I wake to the feeling that I'm in danger, that I'm surrounded by evil creatures and have—it's ridiculous, I never even touched it, but I'm sure it feels like the Master Sword in my hands. Except of course there's nothing there." He paused, stopping his slow circling to look at her. "Last night I woke thinking Navi was still with me."

It was probably pointless to ask. Harmful, even. But Zelda couldn't help it; she stepped forward, lifting a hand toward him. "Do you think of me?"

Link crossed his arms over his chest and cast his gaze down, ignoring her hand. "Sometimes," he admitted. "What does it mean?"

She let her hand drop. "I don't know."

After a long silence, Link murmured, "I'm getting sick of your lullaby." When she looked at him, a smile pulled at one corner of his mouth.

Zelda knew, dimly, that he was trying to ease the tension, but something else stuck. "The song," she said. "I always hear it when I wake. You too?" She didn't wait for an answer. She was right, she knew it. "That has to be the key." Her hand went to the Ocarina wrapped tightly to her side, relocated from its usual place against her thigh because she was in her training clothes. "I have to go find Impa."

Link stared at her, his brow wrinkled. "Zelda?"

She stepped in close, brushing a light kiss against his cheek. "Goodnight, Link. I'll let you know what I find out." Then she spun, leaving him behind in the courtyard.

* * *

 **I am so grateful for all my readers who have made it with me this far! Please, if you can spare a moment to leave a review, I would really appreciate it. And again, if you like my writing, I have other stories you might enjoy as well! I'm currently posting gradual revisions to my other Legend of Zelda fanfic, The Evil Realm, until I catch back up to where I left off and can begin posting new chapters. I have a completed Harry Potter fanfiction here, and I have original work on Wattpad (username Karrie Zai) that could always use love!**

 **Whether you're here just for this story or are curious about my other work, though, I'm just so pleased to be sharing my writing with you. Thank you again!**


	5. Chapter 4 : Memory

**04 : Memory**

"Impa!" Zelda pounded on the Sheikah's door three times before she burst through, her gaze instantly locking onto Impa, who froze mid-step on her way to the door. Her hand dropped from her knives as she regarded Zelda.

"Princess, what's wrong?" Impa asked. Her tone was wary. Zelda suspected she already had an idea what this was about; she'd always had an uncanny sense for things like that. She was in her nightclothes, a plain black bandeau and underpants, but when she straightened and crossed her arms over her chest she was no less formidable than in full battle regalia.

"It's the lullaby," Zelda said, a hard edge to her voice.

There was a beat of silence, just a bit too long, before Impa replied. "What do you mean?"

"Don't." Zelda felt her jaw clench. She moved to the nearest chair and sat on the back with her bare feet in the upholstered seat. She still wore her training gear and didn't want to dampen the fabric, but she also felt a twinge of satisfaction over the irreverence of it. With her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, she cast a sidelong look at Impa. "I of all people know the magic of song." The Ocarina almost seemed to heat against her side.

Impa crossed to the door, shutting it with a low thump and click. Her hand slid from the handle and she turned to face Zelda, but her eyes were cast down. "You still have your instincts," she said in a low voice.

It was an opening. Perhaps the best she would get. Zelda took it. "These nightmares are important. They mean something. But the lullaby is suppressing them. Why?"

Impa sighed and looked up, meeting Zelda's eyes. The pained expression on her face was something so rare that it made Zelda's chest tighten. Finally the Sheikah moved to the seat across from Zelda, mirroring her position on the back of her chair. "I suppose it was too much to ask that you never need to remember," she said.

Zelda let out a harsh breath. "Impa…"

Before she could launch into a tirade, Impa raised a hand. "I'll tell you, Princess. Let me just collect my thoughts."

With some effort, Zelda kept her silence and waited. Her mind stormed with angry words: You've had seven years to collect your thoughts and Who the hell do you think you are and the worst, slightly desperate, Have you been messing with my head all this time? Impa was her protector, she reminded herself.

"There is a reason Ganondorf disappeared," Impa said.

Zelda stared, taken aback by the words. What did that have to do with anything? The Gerudo king had disappeared seven years ago. Oh. "Right before my nightmares started," she breathed.

"Yes." Impa sighed and stepped down from the chair, crossing to Zelda and gently pulling one of her hands free. Zelda's spine went rigid, but she held still as Impa's fingers traced over her wrist. "I can return the memories to you, Zelda, but they will be a shock if I don't prepare you for them."

It was Impa's use of her given name that told Zelda how serious this was. She heard Princess most often, an occasionally Your Highness. Almost never her actual name. "Tell me," she whispered.

Impa nodded. She squeezed Zelda's hand and then stepped away, returning to her chair. "In another history, Ganondorf didn't disappear," she began. "When he couldn't retrieve the Spiritual Stones from their guardians, he came here to collect more information. While he met with your father, his agents discovered that an unassuming forest boy brought the Kokiri Emerald here."

"Link," Zelda murmured. She knew most of this part of the story. After Ganondorf disappeared, her father sent out teams to undo the damage he'd done in Zora's Domain and Dodongo's Cavern. Father couldn't believe that Link by himself had managed to conquer the darkness Ganondorf planted in the Great Deku Tree. If it was anything like what his teams found, he'd said, it was amazing Link had survived, let alone brought the Kokiri Emerald all this way on his own.

"In another history, your prophetic dreams about Ganondorf prompted you to send Link after the other two Spiritual Stones. You wanted to open the way to the Sacred Realm so you could use the Triforce against Ganondorf."

Zelda's brow furrowed. Suddenly it occurred to her what Impa was implying. "Another history?"

"We'll get there." Impa offered a small, sad smile. "Let me tell it this way, Princess."

"Of course." Her voice was soft. She slid down into the seat, suddenly unconcerned about her sweat-damp clothes.

"Opening the Sacred Realm was just what Ganondorf had planned," Impa continued. "He overtook Link and stepped up to claim the Triforce for himself.

"It scattered, but the damage was done. Link, as the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, was the hero prophesied to defeat Ganondorf, but at ten years old he was much too young. The Sage of Light sealed him away to mature, but while he slept, Hylia suffered.

"Ganondorf corrupted everything. We were forced onto the run. Ganondorf sought after you for your piece of the Triforce, and when he used magic to track you, we had to hide your identity by supplanting it with Sheik's. It changed him." Zelda sensed sorrow in Impa's words about her son, but she swept onward. "It changed everything.

"After seven years, the Sage of Light woke Link from his slumber. Over the course of a few weeks, Link restored balance to the temples Ganondorf had corrupted, freeing the power of the Sages. Then he faced Ganondorf.

"He defeated the evil king, but the damage to Hylia was so thorough that we decided to turn back time. It undid all of the destruction, restored all of the lost lives. But it also plucked Ganondorf out of the past."

"It caused the war," Zelda said.

Impa frowned, tilting her head. "Not quite a war." When Zelda opened her mouth to argue, she rolled over it with, "Even if it had been a full scale war, you have to trust me, Princess. This is far better than what you erased by turning back time."

Zelda let it go, instead focusing on what really bothered her. "Why can't I remember it?"

Impa stilled for a time, looking down at the backs of her hands. Finally she said, "We wanted to give you a childhood. You had to grow up so fast, to face such terrible things, and carrying those memories would taint your childhood even with Ganondorf gone."

Her demeanor made it very clear that it hadn't been Zelda's decision to suppress her memories. This was something Impa had done to protect her, without her knowledge, because she knew Zelda wouldn't approve. Her jaw clenched, but she forced herself to relax. It was done. All she could do now was remove the block on her memories. "Do it," she told Impa. "I need to remember. I need to know."

Impa searched Zelda's eyes for a long moment before she finally got up. She disappeared into her bedchamber briefly, and when she returned she had her panpipes in hand. "Brace yourself, Zelda," she murmured before she raised the pipes to her lips.

Suddenly she was remembering the sharp ache she always felt right before the nightmares receded back into the dreamworld. A small voice suggested maybe it would be better not to remember, but she smashed it down and nodded to Impa.

In moments she was playing a melody so sad that it carried Zelda's heart down through the bottom of her stomach. It seemed familiar in a far-off way. Suddenly it was punctuated by a high note that struck at her like heartache, and then it was gone altogether, plummeting her into darkness.

* * *

 **Somehow I forgot to update? I updated on Wattpad and AO3, just not here -_- Naturally. Well hopefully I'll be back on schedule now.**


	6. Chapter 5 : Shattered

**05 : Shattered**

Link's sleep was plagued by nightmares, just as it had been for weeks. He woke twice during the night, brought up by panic, only to find himself alone in his chamber with his sheets tangled around his limbs. Empty hands. No Navi, though he got the distinct sense of her. It made no sense. He'd seen Tatl more recently than Navi, and arguably for a longer period of time.

The second time he woke, there was something static in the air. Dawn crept across the horizon. He felt a tension in his chest, a pulling sensation that was almost painful—and then a snap. His breath caught in his chest. Zelda's Lullaby played in the back of his mind, but it did nothing to calm him.

He extricated himself from his blankets and padded over to the window, gazing out at the first hints of color in the east. Breathe in. Breathe out. Eventually his pulse slowed.

He considered staying awake, but he could use the hour or so of rest that remained to him before the palace would truly wake. He crawled back into bed, too warm to pull the covers over himself, and was asleep in minutes.

Link squeezed his eyes shut against the light that tried to pry its way through. Consciousness slowly trickled in. The twitter of birds singing the morning awake. The glow of early morning light against his eyelids.

The light was moving.

Link frowned and sat up. There was another sound, he realized, besides the birdsong. Something soft and tinkling, reminiscent of fairy voices. He looked around to find the source.

No more nightmares, he realized. Though, judging by the sky, he'd only slept another half hour or so. Perhaps he hadn't had time to fall into nightmares.

Bobbing light drew his gaze. Near the window a fairy orb hovered—well, it looked like a fairy orb except for its green coloring. "Hello," he said, keeping his voice soft so as not to startle the creature.

"Finally awake, I see," the fairy said in a startlingly strong voice. It wasn't the wind chime tone of typical fairies. Even more surprising, it spoke Hylian.

"You… were waiting for me to wake up?"

The fairy bobbed up and down in the air, like a nod. "Well. Sort of. More accurately, I was deciding how best to wake you. You woke on your own, though. That's good. The next resort would have been yelling in your ear, but I was worried you might try to smack me." She—at least, the voice was feminine—gave a noise that sounded like a huff. "This form wouldn't hold up well to that, I think."

Link blinked and shifted closer to the edge of the bed. "This form?"

"Yes." She floated closer and circled around him. He tried to follow her with his stare, but lost her briefly when she passed directly behind him. "Come, we don't have time to lose. We have to find the other Guardians."

"What—" Link considered his question and rephrased. "Who are you?"

"Farore," the fairy replied brightly. "Well. A small piece of Farore. An anchor. I suppose a more appropriate name is in order." There was a pause in which her light pulsed. Unlike typical fairies her size, she actually seemed to have a human-like figure. More like a Great Fairy on a very small scale. "Farune," she said decisively.

"I'm Link," he introduced himself. He was shirtless, he realized, a sheet pooled around his waist concealing his underpants from view. He palmed the back of his neck and felt his cheeks heat.

"I know your name," the fairy—Farune—said in a tone that very clearly indicated she thought him an idiot. "Did you not get the part about me being a Goddess? Well, part of one at least." When Link stared at her, his lips parted with confusion as he tried to fit the concept of a pocket-sized Goddess into his worldview, she produced a sound something like a sigh. "Not only that, Link, I'm _your_ Goddess. Well. Not yours. Rather, you're mine." She huffed. "I've been keeping track of you your whole life."

Link's jaw worked for a moment before he finally managed, "You don't sound like a Goddess."

"And I suppose you'd know," she said. "Talk to them all the time, do you?"

He shook his head weakly and glanced around the room. "How can I—what do you—" He paused, taking a deep breath. "How may I serve you?"

"You can start by getting dressed," she said. Her exasperated tone reminded him of Malon. "You're wasting time, and time is precious."

Link hurriedly slid from the bed, throwing on his clothing and then sitting to pull on his boots. Once he was dressed, Farune zipped over to the door. "Come on. Next stop is the princess. There's no time to waste!"

"What's going on?" Link asked as he strode after her. Goddess, but she could move! But then, she claimed to _be_ a Goddess, so maybe that shouldn't surprise him.

Farune gave an impatient huff. "If I tell you now I'll just have to repeat myself once we're all together. Hurry up. You'll get your answers soon enough."

Once they were in the hallway, the fairy paused, hovering before him. Her glow was too bright for him to tell whether she was looking at him or looking around. After a moment he asked, "Where are we going now?"

"I already told you!" she said. "The princess! You'll have to lead. You're the one who knows the way around the palace."

His brow furrowed. "Aren't you a"—

"Goddess, yes. Honestly, Link, you're quicker than this. I know you are. Did you hit your head in the night?" She didn't pause long enough for a response. "This all looks a little different from this vantage," she explained, slowing down her words until it sounded like she was speaking to a child. "I can tell you what direction she's in because I can sense my sister with her, but I can't navigate the hallways. At least, not as quickly as you should be able to." There was a little emphasis on the word 'should,' as if she was starting to doubt him.

Link suddenly found himself deeply amused. Laughing at a Goddess, however small she was, didn't seem wise, so he took off down the hallway instead, heading for Zelda's suite.

As he approached the princess' rooms, he noticed an increase in traffic in the hallways. Servants hurrying to and from her suite, a vague sense of panic. Link picked up his pace, jogging down the stone corridors until he burst through Zelda's doors. The first thing he saw was a bloody pile of blankets against one wall. His pulse quickened and his eyes scanned over to the surgeon winding gauze around Zelda, whose expression was tight with pain. Impa hovered behind her.

Link shot forward, going to his knees beside Zelda, out of the surgeon's way but close enough that he could take her hand and search her for wounds. There was nothing to see but the bandage that was being tied around her torso. "What happened?" he asked. His voice dropped to a growl. "Who did this?"

Zelda swallowed and waved a hand at him. "It's nothing," she said, but her voice was strained and she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"This isn't nothing!"

A firm hand on his shoulder pulled him away. He rose so he could follow Impa; her grip was too insistent to ignore. He didn't take his eyes from the princess, but he didn't have to. Impa murmured next to his ear, low enough that only he could hear, "It was the Ocarina. It shattered."

His gaze jerked over to Impa, his jaw slackened by shock. "What?"

But he'd heard. The Ocarina of Time, the royal family's secret legacy, had been destroyed.

* * *

 **So, what do you think of Farune? I really had fun when it came to this scene, much more than I was expecting. I hope you enjoyed it too!**


	7. Chapter 6 : Paths

**06 : Paths**

Something had changed. In the long shadows cast by dawn, tossed between the terror of the Otherworld, the agony of her broken wrist, and what scant sleep she managed between the two, Naizhen felt a tension build in her chest and stretch until it snapped. Her eyes burned with exhaustion, but she couldn't shut them after that.

She'd curled up in a patch of dawn's light, cradling her throbbing wrist and measuring the change. It was the Otherworld. Habit kept her out of the shadows, but the darkness didn't seem so alive anymore. The memories weren't gone, but there was a space separating them from the quiet misery of the world she inhabited now.

A cucco cried and Hyrule Castle Town began to wake beneath her, but Naizhen kept her back pressed to the short wall she'd curled up against during the night. The roof underneath her sloped downward to the east, a patchwork of repairs, and just above her there was the overhanging roof of the building she leaned against. It was the only safe place she'd found to sleep in recent months. Other beggars didn't bother with it because of the slope of the roof; even if you didn't accidentally roll off in the night, you were likely to roll out from under the limited cover provided by the neighboring roof's overhang.

Most importantly, it was east-facing, which meant that dawn lit her perch before almost any other place in town.

On an ordinary day, Naizhen wouldn't linger. If she wanted to eat, she couldn't waste any daylight. But the sensation that something was thoroughly different today from the last seven years of her life kept her rooted in place. She listened as the market came to life beyond the building at her back and gently probed at the veil between her thoughts and the Otherworld. The simple fact that she could think about it without getting caught up in a waking nightmare—the sudden rending feeling of half a dozen barbed whip tails finding her back at once, the escalating agony of hot iron branding her skin until a deadened numbness took its place—proved that something had changed.

A flickering glow separated from the bright light of dawn. Naizhen squinted, trying to make it out through the rays of sunlight that pinned her to the roof. A small, red orb of light fluttered closer to her, tiny fairy wings beating quickly as it arced down and then hovered before her face. Naizhen huddled deeper into her hood, unnerved by the feeling that it was studying her as much as she was studying it.

"Oh child," the fairy said in a voice that sounded almost human. There was a deep sadness to it, and a pity that made Naizhen flinch. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Naizhen's voice cracked when she spoke. She was hoarse, the word grating through her throat. "What are you?"

"I am Din's anchor in this world," the fairy answered. It alighted on her knee. This close, she could make out the feminine shape of the creature, a woman no taller than Naizhen's palm who glowed with red light so piercing she was hard to look at directly. "You are my Guardian."

"No." She could scarcely take care of herself. She would sooner swat the little fairy off her knee than claim guardianship of anyone or anything. "Leave me be."

As if she knew Naizhen's thoughts, the fairy took to the air again, hovering before her. "I'm afraid you can't avoid this, Naizhen. Even if that were in your nature, you wouldn't be able to escape this. The other Guardians will find you even if you don't come to them first."

"How do you know my name?" Her voice was a husky whisper that tore at her raw throat. She left the more important question silent: How do you know my nature?

"I am a Goddess," the fairy said, utterly matter-of-fact. "Part of one, at least. And I know you better than anyone. You are mine."

She didn't believe it for a second. A breath puffed from deep in her chest, something close to a laugh, but it was a dark amusement. Naizhen put her good hand on the wall behind her, pushing herself up. She had to duck out from under the overhang, and the movement jostled her broken wrist in a way that forced her to bite off a gasp.

She found she didn't have to look to know the fairy was following her as she edged her way down the slope of the roof. She could sense the creature behind her, like eyes on her back but magnified. With her broken arm cradled to her chest, she jumped down and over to the next building's balcony, her cloak flaring out around her. The landing made her want to scream, but she grit her teeth and straightened, pulling her fallen hood back into place.

"You will want to head toward the palace," the fairy said.

This time Naizhen did laugh, a staccato burst of breaths with just a hint of voice to them. She gave no other response, just headed toward the market at an ambling pace. Hunger gnawed away in her gut, a familiar enemy. If she was lucky, a baker or a fruit vendor might throw away something she could eat. Fruit too spoiled to sell, a pastry that fell to the ground and was too damaged to pass off on an unsuspecting customer.

She prowled along the few carts set up in the central square. If there was nothing for her to scavenge here, she would have to take to the alleys behind shops and homes, searching their refuse for anything she could eat. Even here, she was not the only beggar haunting the market for discards. She averted her eyes from the others. She'd learned a long time ago not to do anything to cross the other beggars. Last night had been a reminder. She hugged her throbbing arm to her chest and wondered whether infection would set into the break and kill her.

"Oi, fairy child!" a cheerful voice called. It took Naizhen a moment to realize it was directed at her. The fairy made a circle around her head, arcing through her peripheral vision. "Come see an old woman, bless you."

It was, indeed, an old woman, her white-and-gray hair pulled tight behind her head. She wore a shapeless floral dress, lilac and white. Two small dogs sat at her feet, one with its tongue lolling out. The woman had paused before the baker's cart, and she waved Naizhen closer.

Instincts told her to bolt. Catching attention never served her well in the past. But the woman's voice was friendly, the Otherworld had retreated further than she could ever remember, and there was really nothing to lose at this point anyway. So she stepped forward, crossing until she stood beside the woman in front of the baker's cart.

"Are you one of the forest children?" the woman asked, a perpetual smile on her lips. "I've heard that the touch of a fairy is great luck! Do you… think yours could spare a little luck for Cupcake here? She's expecting puppies, you see."

Naizhen stared down at the indicated dog, a blond creature that did seem to have some extra weight around its belly. She was confused by the attention, confused by the request, but of her own accord the fairy floated down, alighting briefly on the dog's nose. The dog sneezed as she was leaving and she jerked and zipped inside Naizhen's hood so quickly it made her jump. "Cursed animal… reduced to a handkerchief for a dog of all things…" The fairy seemed to be muttering to herself, but she was so close to Naizhen's ear she couldn't help but overhear it.

The old woman laughed a little and clapped her hands. "Marvelous! Thank you, fairy child. Are you hungry? Could I buy you a turnover? Oh I insist, it's the least I can do…."

Naizhen had made no move to accept or refuse the offer. She had no time to respond at all before the woman turned to the baker, buying two turnovers and a muffin. She handed one of the turnovers to Naizhen and offered a grin that showed her teeth. "There you are. You know, you'd do better in the market with your hood down. You look like a beggar with it up that way, fairy child."

Naizhen managed a small, "Thank you," before she turned away, leaving the woman to move closer to the central fountain. Once she stood at the edge of the pool of water, she nibbled at the turnover and stared off toward the palace.

"The world is different now," the fairy murmured from just behind her ear. She felt the ticklish brush of tiny wings against the back of her neck. "And it needs you, Naizhen."

She made it through finishing her turnover before she gave in to curiosity. The castle guard would turn her away if she approached the palace, of course. So there was really no harm in heading that direction, seeing if there was anything to the fairy's words.

Light washed over her as she took her first steps onto the path toward the palace. The fairy flew from within her hood to circle her head. "That's right, child," the creature murmured. "This is the right way."

* * *

 **You may not recognize Naizhen yet, but you've met her ^_^**


	8. Chapter 7 : History

**07 : History**

In the end, the third Guardian practically marched into their laps. Link hadn't been gone a quarter hour when he returned to Zelda's rooms with a small cloaked form who could be no more than a child. The cloak and the trousers and shoes beneath it were worn, threadbare, and in the case of the shoes, separating at the seams. A beggar child. But the third fairy orbited the child's head, the red of Din.

"What's your name?" Zelda asked gently. After a healing potion, her side was feeling much better, but it still ached when she inhaled to speak. Magical wounds in particular took time to heal even with the strongest potions. She'd dressed in trousers and a deep purple tunic rather than any of her royal dresses, warned by Nayrune that she would need to be travel ready, but her bandages were tight under the loose fabric.

"Naizhen," the beggar replied, and the voice surprised her. Even hesitant and rough as it was, Zelda marked it as a female voice, a woman's voice. Not a child, then.

Memory rose slowly into Zelda's thoughts, surfacing like a body floating up within a bog. When the Triforce scattered from Ganondorf's touch, the Triforce of Strength went to a young girl who lived in Castle Town. By the time Zelda learned of it, Ganondorf had already stolen the girl away into the desert. He acquired the Triforce piece from her—Zelda wasn't sure on the specifics but knew it involved weakening the girl enough that the Triforce would come free. In his hands, it was corrupted into the Triforce of Power.

Zelda had never had a chance to meet that girl, and she had always regretted that she'd been lost to Ganondorf's clutches. It looked like she was getting her second chance now.

"Remove your hood, please," Zelda instructed the young woman.

The woman lowered her head but did not move to obey the command. Zelda reminded herself that, dressed as she was, it was possible that the beggar didn't realize who she was. Unlikely, but possible. She nodded to Impa, who stepped behind the woman and pulled the hood down.

The young woman revealed had bronzed skin and a reddish undertone to her brown hair that spoke of Gerudo heritage. Her nose was prominent on an otherwise small-featured face, another sign. Because of that shared heritage, there was a certain familiarity to her. She looked a bit like Kale. When she looked up at Zelda, though, her eyes were a murky greenish brown, not like Kale's deep brown eyes. Her long hair was in a bedraggled tail tied just behind the base of her left ear. She held one arm cradled to her chest in a way that suggested injury.

"What happened to your arm?" Zelda asked.

Naizhen looked away. "It's broken," she said.

Link took a step closer to Naizhen and stared at her, intense. It was a stare that would have drawn Zelda's eyes to his, but Naizhen kept her gaze on the ground. "What happened to the rupees I gave you?" he asked.

Zelda started, raising an eyebrow at him, but if he noticed he ignored her. When no answer proved forthcoming from the young woman, Zelda asked, "You know her?"

Link's eyes flicked to hers and he palmed his neck, color rising in his cheeks. "She tried to steal from me on my way to the palace yesterday," he admitted, and Zelda let out a breath and rolled her eyes skyward. He continued anyway. "I mistook her for a boy then. But I healed a—a wound on her wrist, and I gave her some rupees. So she wouldn't _have_ to steal."

Link finally backed away from Naizhen, dropping down into one of Zelda's chairs and pulling his hat off to run a hand through his hair. Now that he wasn't standing so close, Naizhen shot a look his way, and there was a surprising heat in her expression. "Street kids can _smell_ when you've got more than you should," she said in her soft, hoarse voice.

Link's brow furrowed, but sudden understanding made Zelda's shoulders drop. A faint throb of sympathy passed through her chest. "Someone took the rupees from you," she said, "and broke your arm in the struggle."

Naizhen met Zelda's eyes, the firm set of her chin confirmation enough. In the corner of her eye Zelda saw Link deflate. Something twinged in her belly, her memories of him in another history clattering together in her head.

"Now that you are all together," Nayrune said, her blue fairy light pulsing, "we can explain why we are here."

All three fairies settled on the table situated between Zelda's upholstered chairs. Blue, green, and red for the three Goddesses. The room was clear of servants, leaving just the three Guardians along with Impa, Kale, and Sheik. Kale stood by the door to be sure they weren't interrupted. Sheik haunted the northeast corner of the room, shadowed where the others were lit by the sunlight cast through the windows.

Link's green fairy, Farune, spoke first. Zelda was surprised to find she could tell their voices apart even though she couldn't actually see who spoke. "We are pieces of Farore, Nayru, and Din cast into your world as anchors," she said, her voice light with humor even on this somber topic. It put Zelda in mind of a spring breeze.. "You may call us Farune, Nayrune, and Dinune."

Nayrune spoke next, her voice smooth with the cadence of a storyteller. "The magic that pulled Ganondorf from the past before he could destroy Hylia doubled time back on itself, but only in your Realm. If time was folded back for all the Realms, it would simply undo his defeat. In folding only your realm back, he was yanked from your world at the moment the Ocarina reset your timeline. The moment Link and Zelda met."

Link shifted in his seat like he wanted to speak, but the red fairy, Dinune, picked up before he could. "The Ocarina's magic barely had the strength to create the fold between the Realms." Her voice was low and resonant compared to the other two. "It was stretched so tightly that at dawn, when the original history ended, the magic of the Ocarina shattered."

Zelda winced at the memory of waking to a dozen sharp pains as Ocarina shards sliced into her side. She'd slept with it on her person, always, to keep it safe, never suspecting it might end up harming her. "What does that mean?" she asked. She understood that the magic of the Ocarina was gone, but if it was that simple, she doubted the Goddesses would have sent fairies to gather their Guardians.

Nayrune moved to the edge of the table. It was hard to see through the blue light emanating from her body, but Zelda thought she was settling down with her legs hanging off of the table. She picked up the thread of the story in her rhythmic voice. "That magic was bridging the gap driven between the Realms by the folded timeline. When the Ocarina shattered, it created a rent between this Realm and the others. We are here as anchors, keeping the Realms from unraveling, but this won't work forever. Our hold is limited by safeguards put in place to protect Hylia from foreign gods."

"We inadvertently safeguarded against ourselves as well," Farune said, her voice carrying a note of grim humor. "In this case, at least. With our attention split by holding the Realms together, we can't restore balance to the safeguards that were set off by the Ocarina's magic blowing a hole in reality."

"Only those touched by our power in a significant way can enter the safeguard temples to restore balance," Dinune said. She floated up from the table and crossed to perch on Naizhen's shoulder. "And only our Guardians can collect the weapons within."

"Weapons?" Link asked.

The word caught in Zelda's mind, as well. "Why will we need weapons?"

"They will help you in restoring the temples to balance," Nayrune said.

Farune spun a circle on the table, her wings fluttering. "Where you'll really need them, though, is to put down the Realm Guardian."

"Return it to its rest," Nayrune corrected.

"What is a Realm Guardian?" Link asked. He'd risen from his chair and moved behind it, his fingers gripping the back.

"It is the creature we created to guard the realms against foreign gods," Dinune said. "It draws its power from the safeguard temples, which in turn draw their power from the world."

"The temples being off-balance has it in quite a state," Farune said, a note of complaint in her voice. "It's enough to give a Goddess a headache."

Zelda's chest contracted, forcing a breath from her lungs. "Is it a danger to my people?"

"Not directly," Nayrune assured her. "At least not yet. But time is short. You must go."

"Where?" Kale asked.

"Good question," Farune said, a long-suffering note in her tone. "If you bring a map, we'll give you a starting place."

Zelda kept a number of maps in her room. As she moved to retrieve one, the tone of Farune's voice when she promised a _starting place_ echoed through her, cresting ahead of a wave of foreboding.

* * *

 **The structure of this story is very video game-y, which is unusual for my writing style. There are dungeons and boss battles ahead!**


	9. Chapter 8 : Tension

**08 : Tension**

Naizhen still wasn't quite sure how she'd allowed herself to get dragged into this. She'd never actually agreed to anything, yet here she was astride a beast of a horse, clutching its reins and praying it didn't suddenly bolt or buck her off. So far it seemed content to follow the two horses in the lead, the ones that carried the man in green (Link?) and the brown-skinned man. Behind her rode the princess and the Sheikah man.

She probably should have asked their names at some point.

To make matters worse, it was still drizzling. The sky had opened at some point during the morning while everyone else was running this way and that, making arrangements and packing things and arguing over who would actually accompany the princess.

It wasn't raining so hard now, but even the misting moisture in the air was enough to make her thoroughly damp after an hour of riding. The horses' hooves squelched against the wet grass and the mud underneath. The red fairy had curled against the back of Naizhen's neck, shielded from the rain within her hood. She might have been sleeping.

There was still a bone-deep ache in Naizhen's wrist. The white-haired Sheikah woman had healed it with a series of revolting potions that left her light-headed and vaguely nauseated for several hours. She'd also given her the boots and clothing Naizhen now wore, finer than anything she'd had in years, and the long knife hanging from her belt. She wasn't sure if the throb that pulsed up her arm and down into her fingertips with the horse's every step was real or imaginary.

They were headed for the smoke-ringed mountain in the east. Naizhen could swear it hadn't gotten any closer in the hour or more they'd been riding. The silence was starting to make her itch. What little information (Link?) and the princess managed to get out of the fairies still hung heavy in the air around them.

Eight safeguard temples, each with a guardian that would have been woken by the imbalance. They would need to put each guardian down to restore the balance and collect the weapon it guarded. No real idea of what to expect in the temples except that they were tied to the elements. The first was at the peak of Death Mountain.

When they discussed the mountain, it hadn't escaped Naizhen's attention that they called it a volcano.

But that was almost an hour ago. Since then it had been quiet, far quieter than Naizhen was used to. Castle Town was always noisy in the daylight.

The quiet time was when the Otherworld crept in.

She shuddered and gripped her reins more tightly. So far the Otherworld was still sealed away. She suspected it would stay that way, but part of her whispered that she was a fool for believing that.

The sound of her name made her start, then huddle down in the saddle. But the horse didn't react at all to her jump, just continued plodding along behind the others. She glanced toward the one who'd called for her. The green man. Maybe-Link. He'd slowed his horse, pulling alongside her.

Once she met his eyes, he gave her a little smile. His hair hung wet in his face. "You okay?" he asked.

She shrugged. Were any of them okay? She was riding a beast that could shake her off like water toward a volcano to face an unknown guardian in a temple built by Goddesses. The insides of her thighs were beginning to ache from sitting astride this horse. On the bright side, she no longer had a broken wrist.

The other one, the man whose skin tone was more like her own, slowed his horse to line up on her other side. A vague claustrophobic feeling rose in her gut. "Hey, it's okay," he said. "I don't think we introduced ourselves, did we?" He gave her a smile, gentle.

"You didn't," she agreed.

He chuckled, though she couldn't see what he found funny. "I'm Kale." Looking closer at him, Naizhen realized that he wore the Sheikah symbol too, like the one riding behind. "Sounded like you've already met Link."

Link raised two fingers to the edge of his eyebrow and then flicked his hand outward. Then his expression sobered. "Sorry about the wrist. I meant to help."

She hesitated for a moment, caught by the entreaty in his stare. What was he expecting from her? "I know," she said finally. Of course he'd meant to help. She remembered the weight of the rupees in her hand, the way they'd clicked together. Her wrist throbbed.

Kale broke into the silence that stretched after. "That's Sheik back there. You two might get on. He's not much of a talker either."

She glanced over her shoulder at the other Sheikah. His name was Sheik? At least it would be easy to remember. Her eyes darted back to Kale when he said, "What?" He was staring past her, toward Link, with his eyebrows raised and his lips parted.

Link released a heavy sigh. Naizhen glanced between the two of them, not sure what she'd missed, but Link just shook his head and moved on. "And that's Princess Zelda."

"Just Zelda," the princess said from behind them, her clear voice cutting through the air. "Please. At least out here."

The lull that hung after was expectant, but Naizhen didn't know what she was supposed to say. Though she'd already given it, she said, "My name's Naizhen."

Link nodded and then watched her for a long moment, his stare sending uneasiness tingling across the backs of her arms and neck. She looked away, stared at the mountain ahead. Still the same size. Goddesses, they would never get there at this rate. A beat later Link spoke again, sending a startled flutter through her chest. "Do you mind if I ask how you came to beg in Castle Town?"

Her shoulders tensed, her head ducking a little and her fingers tightening on the reins. "I mind."

She felt eyes moving over her, but she kept a stubborn stare on her horse's ears. There were several beats of quiet. Rain misted against her face.

Finally: "Kale, you remember the Baker's Brew?"

Kale laughed. "Really? Now?"

"No better time," Link said. The wet thumps of his horse's hooves picked up as he moved ahead of Naizhen. "Let's lighten the mood."

"Fine," Kale said, his tone warm.

Link started singing, and Kale picked up the words with him. " _The prayer bell rang and the stove was hot but a mug of ale the king had not…_ "

Behind them, the princess groaned. "Not this again."

It didn't stop them. They sang that song, and another, and several more. Somewhere along the way, the tension eased out of Naizhen's shoulders.

* * *

The sun sank behind them, their shadows stretched long ahead. They were nearly to the path that would lead up to the village at the base of the mountain, but there was still some time left before they would make it. More time than there was daylight remaining.

A knot of anxiety had started building in Naizhen's gut when the sun began to set. It sent pulses of static out through her limbs. Nighttime would be the real test. Would the Otherworld stay sealed away? If it didn't, would she be able to contain it? She didn't like the idea of being on horseback if the waking nightmares rolled over her.

She wasn't the only one who was worried. Ahead of her, Link's shoulders were rigid. His head swung about, watching for something.

"What is it?" Kale asked him.

"I'm not sure. Just a feeling."

The last of the daylight bled from the world.

A wolfos howled.

Around them, the earth stirred. Naizhen's horse blew out a nervous breath. She tangled her hands tightly in the reins, terrified the horse would throw her but unable to look away from a patch of ground that was shifting, something pushing up out of the center. Mud clung to the hand-shaped thing clawing its way out of the dirt.

There was a flutter of wings against her neck and the red fairy emerged from her hood, flying around her head. The sudden movement sent Naizhen's heart hammering against her ribs.

A hand touched her knee and she jumped and thrashed. Link caught her leg before she could kick him. "Down," he said softly. "Off the horse. In case she panics." He was on the ground already, the green fairy floating near his shoulder. She hadn't noticed him getting down from his horse. The others were on the ground too.

She nodded and slipped her opposite foot from its stirrup, then fought to swing her leg over the saddle. She was so stiff from the ride that she fell more than climbed down, but Link caught her around the waist and steadied her.

Beyond him, a figured was pulling itself free of the earth. Yellowed bone showed through mud and clumps of dirt. The creature had a sword in one hand.

Naizhen's terror swelled into her throat. Was this the Otherworld? It felt different. Worse.

Real.

Four skeletal warriors stood around them. Mud still fell from their bones, thudding softly to the ground. They lifted their weapons and advanced.

* * *

 **What do you think of Naizhen? :D**


	10. Chapter 9 : Awakened

**09 : Awakened**

Once Naizhen was safely on the ground, Link drew his sword. With his free hand he smacked Naizhen's mare across one flank, calling, "Hup! Epona, home!"

Normally he would fight from horseback. His and Kale's horses were trained for it, and Zelda and Sheik's were at least calm enough not to endanger their riders in a battle. But between Naizhen's inexperience riding and the unknown nature of the mare they'd selected for her, better not to risk it. Epona would guide the horses to safety.

With the animals out of the way, their hoofbeats like muffled thunder fading into the distance, the field of battle clarified around Link. Four Stalfos surrounded them. Dirt encrusted the skeletal warriors' bones, weapons, and what little armor they wore. Sheik, Zelda, and Kale formed the other three points of a compass rose around Naizhen, weapons drawn and stances low and steady. Their arguments over taking an untrained, unknown young woman on such an important mission skipped through his thoughts again, but there was no helping it. All they could do was protect her.

Other than the faint scrape of bone against bone, the Stalfos were silent as they advanced. His spine went rigid at the weight of a hand pressed against his lower back, but it was only Naizhen steadying herself. He could only spare her a glance before a Stalfos jerked forward, swinging its sword down toward his shoulder.

He caught the strike with his own sword, the shriek of steel rending the night. The blow made him grunt and stumble a bit, far heavier than he'd expected from a creature made of just bone. He thrust outward, pushing the Stalfos' sword away.

A second Stalfos took a swing at him. Link blocked the blow, and as he sent the Stalfos staggering back, Sheik slipped between them and darted forward at the creature. Link returned his attention to the first Stalfos, arcing his blade toward its ribs more to distract than to attack. The skeletal warrior sidestepped his blow and Link ripped his sword back the other way, cutting it up across the Stalfos' chest.

Steel met bone, an odd scuffing sound that echoed what Link heard from behind as the others fought. The Stalfos leaped out of range, part of its rib cage crumbling and dropping away.

Link spared a glance around to check on the others. Sheik had a Stalfos' sword in hand and was swinging it toward the creature, which was now weaponless. Kale blocked wild attacks from his grounded opponent as he struggled to pull his boot from its rib cage. Zelda, whose close-quarters combat style always made Link's stomach drop, was inside the range of the fourth Stalfos. The arm of the creature fell to the ground as she severed it at the shoulder, sword and all.

Link looked back to his Stalfos in time to block an attack he would rather have dodged. The impact pounded through his arms and chest, but he used the moment their swords were caught together to whip a kick through the creature's middle, breaking through the spine. The Stalfos' two halves collapsed to the ground, but its sword arm still swung.

Suddenly Sheik was beside him, the sword he'd taken severing the Stalfos' skull from its neck. Whatever force had held its body together evaporated, bones clattering against one another as they settled into a pile on the ground.

"Thanks," Link said even as he turned to check on the others.

Kale raised his sword from where he'd decapitated Zelda's Stalfos. She had the fingers of one hand against her opposite elbow, pulling her arm around her body to study the dark line of a cut across the muscle of her upper arm. The blood trailing from the wound looked black in the moonlight.

"Is everyone okay?" Kale asked. He kicked the skull of Zelda's Stalfos, sending it tumbling several yards away. The other Stalfos were now piles of loose bone around them.

"Fine," Link said, and Sheik nodded sharp agreement.

"It's not deep," Zelda said, glancing up from her wound and letting her arm drop to her side.

Link turned to Naizhen. She'd sunk down to her knees. Her shoulders rose and fell with shaky breaths. He approached her carefully, squatting down before her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, released a rattling breath. "I thought—" But she stopped. Took another breath. "I'm not hurt," she said finally in her husky voice. She looked up. In the darkness, her hood cast all but her chin in shadow. "Not sure I can walk, though." Link recognized the discomfort on her face. It had nothing to do with the Stalfos.

A grin spread across his face before he could stop it. Still squatting, he shifted around and threaded his arm under hers, getting her arm over his shoulders so that he could help her stand. "You get used to riding," he promised.

"Do I have to?"

Link chuckled. Before he could reply, though, a voice cut in. "There is dark magic throughout Hylia because of the imbalance in the safeguard temples." Nayrune hovered between them and the path to Kakariko Village. "Attacks like these will grow more and more common."

"Not everyone will be able to defend themselves like you can," Farune said from somewhere near Link's ear.

"So, hurry up," Kale said.

"Yes," all three fairies chimed, nearly synchronized.

Link turned himself and Naizhen to face toward the mountain path. She tugged her hand from his grip against his shoulder. Her gait was strained and awkward, but she could walk on her own and was apparently determined to do just that. With a sigh, Link started forward.

Without the horses, the trek to Kakariko would take hours.

* * *

Two more Stalfos attacked on their way up into the mountains, but they were easily dispatched. The five of them finally trudged through the village gate shortly after sunrise. Link made weary introductions between Angie, Paul, Zelda, and Naizhen, checked on the horses, and then joined the others in Sheik's old room. Until moments like these, it was easy to forget that this was Impa's family home; Sheik and Kale rarely visited, and Impa even less so.

Someone had already laid out Link's bedroll for him. He could have gone to his bed upstairs, but this seemed like a time to stay with the group. Besides, Sheik's room was darker than it would be upstairs. Not that an earthquake would keep him from falling asleep now, much less sunlight.

Kale was already lying down, but Zelda stared down at her bedroll with a longing expression on her face. "I want to sleep, but I want to wash," she said. Dried blood formed thick burgundy ribbons down her right arm.

She could do what she wanted. Link was ready to fall asleep on his feet. He knelt down and then sprawled on top of his bedroll without even bothering to crawl inside it.

"The temples—"

"If you try to tell me I can't sleep, I will flick you across the room," Link grumbled. He wasn't even sure which fairy had started to speak.

Chuckles followed his threat. He thought he even heard Farune laughing. Whether Zelda decided to go clean up or the fairies spoke again, Link had no idea. Within moments he was lost to the world, more deeply asleep than he'd been in weeks.

And his dreams were finally free of nightmares.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review - feedback on work does wonders for artists of every kind. I'll love you forever if you do :P Also, you might like my other Zelda fanfic, The Evil Realm, if you haven't checked it out already!**


	11. Chapter 10 : Leap

**10 : Leap**

"Brother Link!" Darunia lifted Link into the air and rumbled a laugh. "It has been so long!"

Link looked ridiculous with his shoulders pressed up against his ears by Darunia's grip under his arms. "Have we met?" he asked slowly.

Zelda's heart ached; Link had lost all of his memories of Darunia, and her formal acquaintance with the Goron king only merited a cheerful "Hello, Princess." The one who should remember him didn't. Darunia didn't seem to take it as hard as she did, though. She could swear his laughter rumbled the rock beneath her boots. "Oh, your memories have not returned! I knew you in another life." He put Link down and rested a heavy hand on his shoulder. Link stumbled a little before adjusting to the weight. "I have had my people keep an eye on you since then! I know of all your dealings with the Gorons, and it pleases me that you have been well."

Link smiled, his expression mildly uncomfortable. "It's good to meet you," he said. "Again, I guess. Who are you?"

Zelda was seriously concerned that if Darunia kept laughing he might cause an earthquake or a rock slide or something. "I am Darunia," he said. "King of the Gorons." Like all of his kind, his coarse brown fur and thick rounded body made him look a bit like a boulder with arms and legs. He did have a spiky graying beard to distinguish him, as well as piercing indigo eyes.

"I'm Link, but I guess you knew that." Link staggered again as Darunia's hand fell away from his shoulder. He palmed the back of his neck and turned to the others. "This is Kale, and Sheik, and Naizhen." He pointed to each of them in turn. Kale flicked a two-fingered salute, his grin a bright contrast against his swarthy face, but Sheik and Naizhen just offered brief nods.

Zelda had huffed at Kale for comparing Naizhen and Sheik, but he wasn't wrong.

"It is wonderful to meet you," Darunia said, his rumbling voice filling the rock chamber. It was simple for a throne room, but it suited the Gorons. "You must be here about the volcano."

That took Zelda by surprise. "You don't know?"

He scratched the top of his head and regarded her with intense eyes. "Know what, Princess?"

She shook her head and gestured to the fairy sitting on her shoulder. "I thought Impa would have told you, you being a fellow Sage."

His smile was gentle. He took a couple of steps back, settling onto his throne and resting his chin on his fist. The muscles of his arm were bigger around than she was. "Our Sage powers are not active, Princess. What's gone wrong?"

"The Ocarina shattered," she explained, a rushed near-jumble of words. "The safeguard temples are unbalanced. What about the volcano?"

"It is active," Darunia said. "It threatens to erupt."

"Restoring balance to the temple at the volcano's peak will calm it," Dinune said. The red fairy orbited Naizhen's head and didn't appear to take notice of the uneasy glance Naizhen shot her way.

"Best to leave now," Nayrune added from Zelda's shoulder.

"The temple within the crater is dormant," Darunia said. "I've checked."

"This is a different temple," Farune said. Link looked far more comfortable with the fairy circling his head, but that was hardly surprising. "One that we built."

Darunia's chuckle vibrated through the soles of Zelda's boots. "Is it fairy-sized?"

"We Goddesses," Nayrune clarified.

"I'm getting sick of this tiny form," Farune muttered. She'd landed on Link's hat, which saved her from seeing the smirk of amusement on his face.

"Ah, I'm sorry, wee Goddesses," Darunia said. His gaze swept across their group. "If you're to go to the peak of the volcano, let the Gorons outfit you properly first." He stood and crossed to the door that led from his throne room up into Goron City. Cupping his hands around his mouth, his voice boomed out: "Link!"

Link jumped, startling the fairy from his head, and whirled to face Darunia. "What?" he asked, a little breathless, a hand over his chest. He looked around, saw all of the eyes on him, then curled his hand into a fist and thumped it against his chest. He forced a cough.

Zelda hid her smile behind one hand until she'd mastered it. Shortly there was a low thundering noise that crescendoed near the door, and then Darunia stepped back to allow a small Goron with a patch of light hair on his head into the chamber. "This is my son Link," Darunia said. Then, to the youngling, "Go and fetch fire tunics for this lot."

"Okay Dad!" He waved quickly to them and then turned away, curling up into a ball and rolling off through the doorway.

"Your son—" But Link didn't finish, just stood staring, his eyebrows drawn with confusion.

"Yes, I named him after you," Darunia said. "In another life. You are truly a brother to the Gorons, Link."

Link turned away, his glance shifting between Zelda and the others. Gradually his expression opened, became something more like awe or wonder. Then he ruined it by shooting a sideways smirk at Kale. That face said clear as day, _Would you look at that. They're naming babies after me._

Zelda shook her head, hiding another smile.

* * *

Two hours later they'd hiked to the top of Death Mountain, passing the highest point the Gorons normally reached, to their guide's deep consternation. Darunia wanted to guide them himself, but he confided to Zelda (in a voice no one else could miss) that he'd learned his lesson about going off on harebrained quests and leaving his people behind in another lifetime.

At dusk they finally clung to the crest of the mountain, the heat enough even here that Zelda was glad for the enchanted tunic provided by Darunia. Her skin crawled under the gaze of the huge Goron leaned against the slope of the mountain, curiously watching their passage. After so much hiking, her waist ached where the wound inflicted by the Ocarina was still healing.

"I hate to break it to you, wee Goddesses, but there's no temple here," Kale said. Zelda rolled her eyes. Apparently he'd liked Darunia's title for the fairies so much that he was keeping it. It didn't seem wise to antagonize a Goddess that way, whatever her size.

"It is not quite phased with this Realm," Nayrune said. "The entrance is down there." She flew down to hover beyond the rim of the volcano.

Zelda clutched at the edge of the volcano's rim. On this side, it was nearly sheer, so steep that she had to cling on or risk tumbling back down the way they came. That would probably kill her, though perhaps that massive Goron would take pity and catch her. Either way, she avoided looking down the way they'd come. It gave her vertigo.

On the other side, the rock was blackened and sloped more gently downward for a few feet, but then it ended in a precipice that dropped at least a hundred feet into the active volcano below. The entire rim of the volcano was this way, the ragged blackened remains of a caldera that never extended more than three yards inward before falling away. The edges had a jagged look that made her suspect pieces had broken off over time, and the last thing she wanted to do was trust her weight out there.

Which of course meant that her sadistic Goddess fairy wanted her to do just that. Zelda sighed. "What do you mean it's down there?" she asked on the thin hope that her fear was wrong. "The dormant fire temple entrance is down there, in the crater."

Farune flitted over to the very edge, a sharp outcropping of blackened rock. "This entire opening is the entrance," she said. "If our Guardians step through, they enter the temple. Anyone else… Fiery death."

Comforting. Zelda's heartbeat sped up in her chest.

"So. You want us to jump." Kale's voice was completely deadpan.

"Not you," Dinune said. "You are Goddess-blessed, but not a Guardian. You would not pass through the barrier."

"Got it. Fiery death for me." Then he tilted his head and regarded the red fairy. "Wait, Goddess-blessed? What's that supposed to mean?"

"We don't have a lot of daylight left," Link cut in, already throwing one leg over the rim of the volcano. "We may not need it inside the temple, but we kind of need it here. Let's figure this out before the sun's completely gone."

The sharp rush of panicked breathing reached Zelda's ears, and she felt such a deep sense of fear at the idea of jumping through an invisible barrier that for a moment she thought it could be her own. But no; it was Naizhen, her grip on the rock white-knuckled and her forehead pressed down between her hands. "Hey," Zelda murmured, trying for gentle but getting more breathless. She was really in no state to comfort someone else.

Link had already climbed over onto the gentler inner slope, but he turned back. One quick glance and he slid over to Naizhen, kneeling and placing his hands over hers. "Go, Zelda. I'll help Naizhen."

"Go?" Zelda squeaked. She cleared her throat, but finally nodded. One step at a time. Link had climbed over the edge. She could, too. She slung a leg over, then started at the feel of a steadying hand on her back. She'd heard Kale moving behind her, but she was still surprised when she looked over his shoulder and saw that he and Sheik had both climbed onto the shattered caldera. Kale gripped her waist firmly as she pulled her other leg over. "You two will be okay up here?" she asked, turning and grabbing Kale's wrists. "There's no way to know how long we'll be gone."

He smiled, gentle. "We'll be fine, Princess. I think you have the harder task by far."

Reluctantly Zelda pulled her hands away. She faced the open volcano, the steep drop down to lakes of lava. On her other side, Link murmured comforting words to Naizhen. Zelda could just make out the young woman's fragile, frightened words: "What if they're wrong? What if I'm not a Guardian? I can't be—I won't just jump." And then, even softer so that Zelda couldn't be sure she heard correctly, "I don't want to die."

Link shushed her and then glanced over his shoulder. He looked absolutely fearless, but then, he always had. "You have to go first, Zelda. Seeing that you don't fall will help her." Then he turned back, quietly urging Naizhen to watch.

Well. No pressure. Zelda snapped her gaze back to the drop. "I just step off?" she asked.

"Yes. You will be fine." Nayrune's feather-like weight alighted briefly on her shoulder, just a touch.

Fine. Zelda could do this. If she plummeted to her death, she'd just hunt Naryu down in the next life. A reedy, hysterical laugh pealed from her throat and her hands fisted at her sides.

Then she stepped forward.

It was almost like stepping into water. She did plunge downward, a gasp escaping her, but she was caught by something thick and viscous. She sank through slowly, a tingling creeping upward until it closed over her head.

And then there was nothing but black.

* * *

 **Well, next we finally get to see the first of the temples... what are you expecting to find in there? :D**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 11 : Inverse

**11 : Inverse**

The princess sank more than fell, disappearing slowly from the bottom up, which was a different kind of terrifying—but it did help ease Naizhen's paralysis. "There, see?" Link was murmuring, his fingers sweat-slick over her hands. His thumb traced a circle over her wrist. "It will be okay. Let me help you over?"

She finally managed a nod. Her muscles didn't want to cooperate, but Link reached over and grabbed her waist, heaving her up to the other side. She helped a little, pushing against the rock with hands and feet, but most of the effort was his. Then she stood leaned against him, shivering in the heat, for just a moment before she pulled away. "Thank you," she murmured. The heat made her sweat even in the tunic the Goron had given her, but fear was an icy wash inside.

Her eyes avoided the edge. Link held a hand toward her elbow but didn't quite touch. It was quickly growing dark, muting his greens and tans and whites. "We'll go together. Come on."

Her breathing finally began to level. Link took a step toward the edge. Focusing on his boots, she was able to step forward as well. It only took three steps until they were standing at the brink. A hot wind cut over the top of the volcano, not enough to threaten Naizhen's balance, but all the same she found herself grabbing onto Link's wrist. When she loosened her grip, he shifted his hand to grab hers. The leather over his palm was rough and oddly comforting. "Together," he said.

Naizhen pulled in a deep breath and nodded. When Link stepped over the edge, she followed.

The sudden plunge ripped a cry from her lungs, but then she was sinking rather than falling. The crawling feeling that crept up her legs, waist, arms and shoulders made her thrash—she didn't know how to swim! She lost Link's hand. Otherworld memories streaked out of the darkness. Screaming into the water, the burn of it clawing down her throat. Holding her breath until her chest threatened to burst and then, finally, struggling and drawing that thick, liquid breath. Hacking up water that made her throat raw and the terror of clawing out of that blackness just to be plunged into the water again.

She closed her eyes as the thick, tingling sensation closed over her head, and suddenly it was gone. She thumped down onto something solid, but when she tried to look around everything was black. And cold, so horribly cold after the heat of the volcano that it made her head ache. Small sounds echoed distantly in the darkness. The panicky hitch to her breathing grew and she felt around herself, her fingers scrabbling over uneven, rocky ground.

"Link!" That was the princess' voice ringing out and echoing so that Naizhen had no idea what direction it came from.

"Zelda!" Link's voice called in return, also echoing—but closer, Naizhen thought. Then, "Naizhen?"

"Here," she managed. Her voice sounded strangled. In this dark place, it carried even though she didn't yell.

Scuffing forward and to her left. "You okay?" Link asked, quieter. His voice barely echoed this time.

The sheath at Naizhen's belt pulled against the ground as she shifted onto hands and knees, scrambling forward. She jammed her fingers against something hard that rang faintly metallic, but she grunted and moved around it. "Not okay," she said, breathless. Her nerves swam with fear. A noise tinking nearby made her flinch and hurry her crawl toward Link's voice. "Not dead, though."

He laughed, gentle. He was close, he had to be. Naizhen put a hand out and felt nothing—the ground suddenly dropped away before her and she gasped, jerking back. Scuffing sounds ahead, not far. "I found an edge, Naizhen," Link murmured. "There's some sort of hole between us."

"Keep talking," Zelda called from farther away, somewhere beyond Link. Her voice was lower now than before, reducing its echo. "I'm finding my way toward you."

"Watch for holes," Link said.

"And whatever else might be hiding in this darkness," she replied.

Naizhen's panic spiked. More Otherworld flashes: total darkness, like this, but with creatures crawling over her in the black. Biting insects, the almost-smooth rub of snakeskin constricting against her. The slice of a knife, impossible to predict or prepare for in the darkness. She scrambled back, her hands feeling out blindly, her breathing thunderous in her ears.

"Naizhen," Link called. His voice had moved some, more to her left. "That's you breathing, isn't it? Calm down." He sounded solid and warm.

Naizhen sat on her knees and pulled her clammy palms across her trousers. The fingers of one hand still throbbed a little from whatever she'd jammed them on. "Can't," she whispered.

"Listen to me," he said. "You're okay. Take deep breaths. Focus."

She latched onto his words. Gooseflesh prickled along her arms and neck in the chill air. She pulled a breath in, deep as she could, then let it go. Breathe. Repeat. It took time, but her pulse began to slow. As calm began to seep through her she sank inside herself in a way that felt old and nearly returned the edge to her panic. But then the world slowed around her and she felt a warm spark deep inside. She retreated into that warm, safe place. There was a bone-deep sensation of belonging and a burgeoning heat that promised protection.

Some part of her grabbed onto that spark. It expanded within her, buzzing warmth out through her limbs, filling her until it pulsed beneath her skin and the pressure threatened to burst. She let it go and it exploded from her, rushing outward in a flash of heat and light.

Once it passed, she felt the chill again, but not so badly as before. And there was a light flickering behind her, casting shadows out into the darkness. She could just make out Link on the other side of the drop between them. He squatted at the edge and looked at her, eyes wide. "Din's Fire," he said softly, then shook his head, his brow wrinkling.

In the distance, the princess' voice: "What was that? Was that Naizhen?"

"Yes." She felt much calmer, but anxiety still buzzed in her fingertips. She looked around. Behind her stood a metal torch, the pitch in its bracket alight and sending sparks dancing behind her eyelids after looking at it. That must have been what she hit her hand against. Beyond the torch in one direction were what dimly resembled stone stairs pressed up against a wall that curved away into the darkness, the torchlight playing against vertical ridges carved into the smooth stone. In the other direction she could just make out a wall with two long, thin shadows cast against it.

Link was moving, standing now that there was light to see by. He edged around the gap between them. It extended back nearly to the wall. As Link crossed over to her side, he paused beside the wall and reached out, grabbing something that pulled free with a faint scraping sound. It was one of the things that cast a thin shadow, and as Link neared her Naizhen recognized it as a torch.

She rose to her feet as he approached. He reached a hand for her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Okay?"

She nodded and he released her, turning his attention to the torch Naizhen had somehow managed to light with that burst of power. He rolled the end of his torch through the flames until the pitch caught.

"You'd think the Goddesses could design a temple that sets us down in one place," the princess complained in the near distance. It sounded like she was getting close. Her voice bounced a bit from the wall.

"Isn't this the fire temple?" Link asked. "Dark and cold. Not what I was expecting."

There was a noise in the distance, a high-pitched skittering or squeaking. Naizhen's hand fell to the hilt of the long knife hanging from her belt, squeezing the grip tightly as her stare skipped against the darkness beyond the torchlight. She'd been helpless when the Stalfos attacked—hadn't even remembered the knife at her hip—but that didn't have to be the case this time.

"It makes a kind of sense," the princess said. Naizhen could make her out now, strafing along the wall toward them. "It's exactly the opposite of what you'd expect. It is supposed to be unbalanced."

"And we're supposed to restore balance." Link huffed a breath and looked around, one hand on his hip. "How? I can't even see how big this place is."

"I think we go up," Naizhen said, pointing to the pocked and crumbling stone stairs beyond the torch.

Princess Zelda finally joined them, her warmth displacing the air at Naizhen's side. "I don't have any better ideas," she admitted. Naizhen glanced over and saw her lighting her own torch in the flames. She must have pulled it from the wall on her way over. "Naizhen, would you carry Link's torch? He's the most experienced fighter. It's best if he has his hands free."

Naizhen nodded and reached for Link's torch. The wood was rough against her fingers. "Thanks," he murmured as he released it. His hand hesitated over his sword hilt before he turned and started for the stairs.

The only way forward was up. Naizhen stayed between Link and the princess as they began the climb, choosing her steps carefully on the treacherous stairs. Her pulse thrummed at the base of her skull, punctuating a mild headache. She listened intently in the darkness, fear creeping through her gut at the thought of what might lurk out there.

The stairs twisted up and around a broad column. They'd climbed for a few minutes when they reached a level section with a metal brazier tucked up against the stone wall. Zelda lowered her torch to light the kindling inside, and then they moved on. Someone sent a chunk of the stairs tumbling into the open air. After a moment it landed with an odd _plink_.

They passed five more braziers before they finally reached the top of the massive pillar. The stairs ended at the flat surface, wide enough across for two people Naizhen's size to lay end to end. At this height, that hardly seemed a comforting amount of space.

In the center was another brazier, bigger than the others and with something odd about the kindling inside. It glimmered in the torchlight. Link picked a piece up and rolled it between his fingers. It looked like wood, but it had a sheen to it like soap bubbles refracting the light. "Think it will light?" he asked, tossing it back in with the rest.

"I'd be surprised if it didn't," the princess replied. She lowered her torch into the brazier.

Immediately it roared to life, the sudden heat of it making Naizhen step back and then check behind to be sure she wasn't near the edge. In the distance a dozen other fires burst to life like stars in the darkness, a wave that started up high and traveled down through dozens of smaller braziers.

The fires weren't the only thing to wake. Shuffling, chittering, rumbling sounds carried toward them from all around. Naizhen sucked in a breath, the crawling feeling of danger spreading across her skin.


	13. Chapter 12 : Fire

**Fire**

The temple was awake. Hundreds of fires flickered to life after they lit the brazier at the top of the column they'd scaled, some of them so far away that they were barely a twinkle in the distance. The ceiling of the cavern, if there was one, was so high up that no light reached it. Near their column rose a dozen others, firelight flickering against their curving, ridged walls. They looked like they were made of marble, but the cavern walls and floor were red-brown rock.

Link moved to the edge of their pillar and stared down. The column seemed to extend for a mile below them, much farther than they'd climbed. Between this column and another a stone path wound over a dark expanse of emptiness. Tracing the path with his eyes, Link saw that it passed between pairs of columns and stretched away into the distance.

"I'm guessing we need to get on that path," Link said, pointing. The air stirred as Zelda stepped up beside him to look.

"Which way?" she asked.

Link shrugged. The path did seem to end at a wall far to the left, but there was no way to tell from here what they might find at that end. To the right, it shrank into the distance. "The first problem is how to get there," he said. "We'll deal with which way to go once we've figured that part out."

He turned away from the edge. Naizhen stood silhouetted by the brazier at her back. "Down the way we came," she said. Link couldn't be sure whether it was a question or a suggestion.

Zelda passed between them, nodding as she went, torchlight gleaming off of her golden hair. She started down the stairs without a second look their way. Link gestured after her, _ladies first_ , and Naizhen moved to follow.

A chittering sound erupted in the near distance. A swooping shadow made Link duck as he stepped onto the stairs behind Naizhen, but it was just a trick of the light. He kept his attention keen, glancing around as they began their descent. Next time it might be a real threat.

Stone skittered, sent skipping down the stairs by one of the women's footsteps. In the distance there was a lowing noise, like a cow in its death throes. There was movement out of the corner of Link's eye, but he couldn't pin it down.

A squeaking sound, close and familiar, brought Link's sword to his hand before he thought to draw it. The guttering of flame, too close—

There. A burning keese dove toward him, screaming its attack in high pitched chirps. Link ducked and it arced just over his head. Naizhen turned to look and jerked down, losing her balance and flailing one arm behind her at the edge of the stairs. Link grabbed her shoulder with one hand without pulling his stare from tracking the keese. The flame of Naizhen's torch fell away below them, dropped in her surprise.

This time when the keese curved back toward Link he was ready. He sliced his sword clean through the tiny creature, sending its halves tumbling past them into the empty air beyond the column.

"There will be more of those," Zelda said. "Hurry." She picked up her pace, descending with one hand trailing along the furrowed marble wall and the other holding her torch.

On their way down, four more keese attacked, but those weren't what worried Link. As they neared their starting point, a shuffling noise carried up to them, soon accompanied by heavy breathing. The sounds ebbed and flowed as they circled the pillar. Whatever beast awaited them below, it stuck to one side.

"Can you see what's down there?" Link asked. He kept his own gaze to the air around them, his ears keen for the chittering of keese.

They were coming round to the side where the creature's noises were the loudest. Zelda paused, leaning over the edge of the stairs with her torch held out. "It's big," she said. "Some kind of reptile. Maybe a Dodongo? But it has fire at the end of its tail."

Naizhen's shoulders shuddered. Link glanced at her, saw her tight-knuckled grip on the hilt of her knife. She was doing well, all things considered; he supposed the Goddesses chose their Guardians for a reason.

"Let's keep going," Link said.

Zelda stepped away from the edge, resuming their downward trek. As they rounded the next bend, the stone path between the columns came into view. It was perhaps ten feet below them, maybe five feet separating it from the pillar. "Wait," Link murmured. The women paused, glancing back at him, and he pointed to the path. "We can make that jump."

It was hard to tell in the dim lighting, but he thought Naizhen paled. "Is that a good idea?"

"It's not any worse than facing the giant lizard beast below," Zelda said, but she didn't look as certain as she sounded as she peered down into the dark abyss separating the column from their target. After a moment, though, Zelda's shoulders dropped and she flashed them a smile. "It's water." She gestured down with her free hand.

Link leaned over the edge. Now that they were farther down, he could make out a hazy reflected image of himself peeking down below. He waved a hand and it reflected, but it wasn't the perfect image of crystal clear water. "All the same, I'd rather not fall in," he said.

"Probably best," Zelda agreed.

He could make the jump with relative ease, but he didn't know if it was far for the others. After a glance around to check for keese, he sheathed his sword and stepped away from the edge. "I'll go first," he said. "If you have any trouble, I'll be able to help."

Naizhen had crept all the way to the wall, but she nodded. Zelda stayed at the edge, holding the torch out. "I'll watch for keese," she said.

Link gave himself a little more distance, setting his feet carefully on the pocked stairs. He pulled his shield's strap from across his chest, removing it from his back and tossing it onto the path ahead of him. Once it slid to a stop, he used one long step to spring himself forward. His tunic flapped against him as he sailed through the air, his hair streaming back from his face, and then he landed with a jarring thump that he transferred forward into a roll over one shoulder. His sheath scraped awkwardly against the stone and his knees and ankles still felt the impact, but in the scheme of things he'd consider that a rousing success.

He scooped up his shield as he straightened, slipping it back over his shoulder and looking up to give his companions a thumbs up.

"I'll go next," Naizhen said, her voice as low and hoarse as ever. Link heard the great breath she drew in, and then the scuff of two rapid steps against the stairs, and then she was sailing toward him. She'd aimed a little to the side; Link stayed out of the way so she could roll, and hoped she had the sense to do so.

Her landing was surprisingly graceful, turning fluidly from her feet over her shoulder, and she came out of her roll standing. She stood for a second, breathing hard, and then her eyes found Link's. He smiled and gave her another thumbs up.

"I'm tossing the torch down," Zelda called. Keese chittered at the sound. In the distance, a blot of fire started moving toward Zelda, but there would be plenty of time for her to jump down out of the way. The torch arced toward him, the flames guttering a little as it started to turn in the air, but Link took a step and caught it before it could hit the path.

There was a pause. Link couldn't see the princess well enough to know what she was doing. He kept an eye on the keese heading toward them, opened his mouth to warn Zelda, but she called, "Clear room!"

There was a shuffle step and then she was leaping, but something was off. Link saw right away that she hadn't jumped quite far enough. He stepped forward just as Zelda's leap dropped her down to the very edge of the path, her hips striking the stone. The air left her lungs in a pained grunt and she arched forward, her arms reaching out for something to grab, but by the time Link and Naizhen caught her hands she'd slid down so that only her arms and shoulders were hooked over the path. Her eyes glinted with tears in the torchlight.

With Naizhen's help, Link was able to pull Zelda up without putting down the torch. She collapsed onto the path, her boots, trousers, and the bottom part of her tunic sopping with dark liquid. She winced and curled inward, arms crossed over her abdomen. "Are you okay?" Link asked. He squatted down beside Zelda, gently touching her shoulder and then moving his fingers to the liquid pooling under her. It was slick under his fingers, a little thicker than water should be. It smelled something like lamp oil, though not as strong.

"I'll be fine," she said, her voice strained. She took a shuddering breath. "That will bruise."

"Did your wound reopen?" Naizhen asked.

The question surprised Link—he hadn't thought of that. He hadn't realized Naizhen had even seen Zelda's bandaged side. Perhaps at Impa's home in Kakariko, when he'd been busy sleeping. Deeply.

Zelda groaned and shifted, slowly straightening. "I don't know yet. I don't think so."

The screech of a keese brought Link's hand to his sword hilt, but he'd only half risen when Naizhen sliced the creature from the air. It tumbled down into the liquid below, and when it struck, the flames didn't go out. They began to spread.

"It burns," Link said. He reached out, offering Zelda his arms to help her up. "And now you're half soaked in it."

She climbed to her feet with her arms braced over his, her grip tight on his muscle. Once she was standing, she held onto him long enough to draw another deep breath, and then she nodded. "Let's keep moving."

Link's gut said to go right, away from the wall. He followed the instinct, starting off that direction. "What happened?" he asked Zelda. "You should have been able to make that jump."

"The keese." She shook her head, her brow still furrowed with pain, but she walked without complaint. "I saw it coming at the last second."

As they walked, the flames slowly spread across the surface of the liquid below. To the side, at the base of a column, a great lizard-like creature prowled. It only had two legs, resulting in a lumbering gait. A spike jutted back from the crown of its head, and smaller bone ridges grew down its spine until they ended at the bright flame burning at the tip of its tail. When it saw them, it opened its mouth to snarl, revealing teeth as long as Link's fingers.

"Avoiding that was a good idea," Naizhen murmured.

They continued along the path, the flames spreading along with them for a while before beginning to creep ahead. The temperature rose.

"The smell of this stuff is giving me a headache," Zelda complained in a low voice, plucking at her tunic with two fingers. It landed back against her trousers with a wet smack.

It hadn't seemed that strong to Link, but he supposed being doused in it would make a big difference.

A shriek rent the air, shocking Link's back rigid. He had his sword out in the next breath, his thoughts colliding together. He found the source of a _thud-scrape_ before he recognized hearing it.

A reptilian creature stood on the stone path with them, standing almost like a man. Its eyes were on either side of its head so that it had to cock its neck one way or the other to see them, and when it did, there was a predatory gleam in its dark eyes. Claws made for disemboweling capped its arms and legs, and a tail with a flame burning at its tip swept slowly behind it. It screeched again, revealing long, sharp teeth.

Link started toward it with the sword and it took a breath in, the way its chest filled sending dread crashing through Link's gut. "Get out of the way!" he cried as he leapt to the side. The creature exhaled a long, fiery blast that swept between them, making Link sweat but falling blissfully short of actually burning him. "Zelda, stay back!" The last thing they needed was its fire to set her soaking clothes alight.

Naizhen had her knife out, pointed at the creature between her and Link. Her hood had fallen back and her expression was wide and nearly frantic with fear, but she kept that knife up and stared at the beast. There was no way she was ready to take this creature on. Link cursed under his breath—why had he let them talk him into taking an untrained young woman along?—and then pursed his lips to let out a sharp whistle.

The creature turned its head so that one of its beady eyes could examine him. Link pushed inward, testing, and the creature shrieked and backed away far enough to inhale another deep breath.

Link rolled as the fire erupted from the thing's mouth, the heat of it passing over his legs as his shoulder hit the ground, but then he was up and the creature's fire was spent. He stabbed forward with the sword, running it through scaly flesh and ribs.

The reptile screeched and leaped away, nearly jerking Link's sword from his hands, but the cut barely seemed to faze it. It roared and turned toward Naizhen.

Naizhen's face hardened in the face of death. Panic surged through Link's system as a monster he had no idea how to kill advanced on a young woman with only a knife and her courage to defend herself.


	14. Chapter 13 : Pendragon

**13 : Pendragon**

Soaked as she was in a nauseating flammable substance, staying back from the fire-breathing creature seemed like a solid plan right up until it focused its deadly attention on Naizhen. Zelda drew her short sword and darted forward. "Hey!" she called.

The thing turned to look at her, cocking its head. She took another step forward, and it matched her, exhaling a low clicking sound. Link used the distraction to creep behind it, but the reptile immediately whirled, screeching and then backing away from all three of them.

"It's guarding its tail," Link said. "Doesn't seem to care about being stabbed, but it doesn't want us near its backside."

"The flame," Zelda suggested. "I've heard of creatures called pendragons—"

She cut off as the creature inhaled deeply. She scrambled away, out of range of its breath. Fire blasted from its maw, sweeping toward Link; he strafed along the edge of the path, fire just behind him atop the oily lake and licking his toes from the monster's attack.

"Pendragons, go on," Link called, slightly breathless, as he circled toward the creature's back. It turned with him, tracking his movement.

"Their lives are tied to the flames burning at the ends of their tails," Zelda said. "Extinguish the tail, kill the creature."

"Great. You have a bucket of water handy?" His tone was dry. He dashed forward at the reptile, but it just leaped back. "The stuff around these parts seems to be flammable."

Right. Easier said than done.

Naizhen pulled her cloak off, then stood staring at it for a moment as it hung between her hands. "Distract it," she said finally. She found Zelda's gaze. "Do you have a water flask?"

Zelda pulled it from her belt and tossed it to the girl, then moved toward Link and the creature. She kept an eye on Naizhen as she moved, watching the girl douse her cloak in water. It was a good idea; hopefully it would work. Zelda rounded the creature, getting herself and Link opposite Naizhen to give her space to work.

The thing inhaled again, and Zelda barely dodged far enough to escape the flames. The heat of its breath warped the air in front of her. It screeched again and advanced on her, but Link stepped close and forced it to retreat.

Suddenly it leaped forward at Link, coming at him with its mouth wide. Link sliced a wide arc with his sword, catching the skin where its jaw hinged and then turning the blade to catch its momentum. Blue-black ichor oozed from its mouth; it slashed with its claws, drawing a cry from Link as one raked across his thigh. Bright blood welled, but Link ignored it and pushed the beast away.

The creature shuddered and turned. Its tail dragged behind it, pulling Naizhen along for the ride as she curled herself over the smoldering cloak she'd thrown over its flame. A different shriek split the air, guttural with agony, and the beast stumbled once, twice…

It collapsed against the stone, the single dark eye turned up toward the ceiling glassy in the flickering light around them.

Naizhen didn't let go until Link bent down and squeezed her shoulder. "Nice work," he said, helping her to her feet. "What made you think of that?"

She winced, looking down at herself. Sections of her shirt smoldered against her arms, though the Goron tunic had shielded her from the worst of the heat. "I've had to put out fires before," she said, though her features were squinted with uncertainty.

"Quick thinking," Zelda said. She glanced down the path. "We'd better get moving. Maybe we can avoid more of those."

* * *

By the time a mound rose in the distance at the end of the path, the fiery lake forming an ominous ring that ended several yards beyond the mound even though the water appeared to extend right up to its base, they'd killed three more of the beasts, and half a dozen keese besides. Link had discovered quite by accident that the things couldn't swim, and despite being flammable the liquid in the lake seemed to work just fine at extinguishing the beasts when they were sinking, flailing, into its depths. After landing the second of the creatures in the lake with a kick that he admitted was more lucky than well-timed, Link figured out a strategy that got them through the next two attacks without injury.

Zelda's part in the strategy was mainly to stay out of the way, but as long as Link had things well in hand, she couldn't complain. Her clothing was beginning to dry, but she was afraid that would only make it more flammable.

As they approached the border around the mound that rose at the end of the path, the flames flickered and shrank until they gave way to clear water. Standing at the edge of the path, Zelda could see down to the bottom of the cavern. It didn't look far, but stalagmites stuck up from the bottom, some of them tall enough nearly to breach the surface. She was lucky she hadn't struck one when she missed the pathway during her fouled leap earlier.

"What's keeping the water clean here?" she wondered. She didn't really expected an answer. It was just something to say.

The stone vibrated beneath her feet. She exchanged a glance with Link, then looked over to Naizhen. "What was that?" Naizhen murmured.

Link went rigid. Zelda followed his stare to the mound ahead and saw that it was stirring, the rough texture of it resolving into scales as it began to glow red with an inner heat. The rumbling grew beneath them as the thing slithered, unwrapping itself from the knot it had formed around the earth. There really was a hill beneath it, but it was steeper, leading up to a point in the center.

The thing uncoiled, its head rearing up and blinking glowing red eyes. It was shaped like a snake's head, but it was the size of a child's mattress. Teeth protruded over its lower lip on either side, as long as Zelda's forearm. Its neck and body were sinuous, but it had two pairs of thick, clawed legs and a tail that swept behind it, the flame on the end bigger than Naizhen. The tail smacked against a column just beyond the ring of fire, sending stone crunching and splashing into the distance.

"How—"

But Naizhen stopped there, gaping wordlessly. Zelda finished for her, glancing at Link with a note of pleading in her voice. "How do we fight that?"

Link swallowed. "Two to distract. One for the tail."

"What do you think one of us is going to be able to do about that tail?" Zelda asked, her voice half a squeak.

The thing caught sight of them. It roared, shaking the earth. Zelda heard cracking noises echoing from up high, and then flame splashed to the side as a stalactite fell into the lake. Elsewhere, rock cracked against stone and marble as other stalactites fell. The beast twisted, bringing its head toward them.

"Run!" Link cried, dashing forward. "Stay close to its body!"

"What?" Naizhen demanded, but Zelda grabbed her arm and dragged her along.

"It's big," Zelda said, low but loud enough that Naizhen couldn't miss it. "Its size will be its disadvantage. We stay close, it has to twist its neck to try to catch us."

"What about its feet?" Naizhen squeaked.

Yeah. That would be a problem. "Stay clear of them."

Link leaped from the stone path to the stalagmite mound. The slope wasn't so steep as to be treacherous; he leaned a little but ran around the edge, keeping a wide berth of the thing's claws.

Zelda felt heat searing behind her as she and Naizhen took their own leap, hitting the rock and rolling to the side. She glanced back and caught sight of the beast's head pulling away. Above them, claws scrabbled against rock as the thing twisted, trying to get a better vantage to snap them up in its maw. With the heat coming off its scales, Zelda doubted the Goron tunic would be enough to protect them if it touched them.

Something caught its attention. Its neck whipped, jerking its head around to look behind it. "Link!" Zelda called out as warning. She couldn't see him, but he had to be the beast's target. Like the others, it must be protective of its tail.

"I see it!" he yelled. "A little help?"

Well, the creature wasn't looking at her now. Zelda looked at Naizhen. "If it looks back around, distract it?" Then she was up on hands and knees, scrambling up toward its belly where it hung suspended a couple yards above the slope. One of its feet clasped the top of the stalagmite, claws gouging the rock. Zelda drew her sword and threw herself under it in a low squat. The heat made the sweat beading at her hairline turn to a river, but she ignored it, stabbing upward at the thing's soft underbelly.

It roared and jerked, its feet stomping as it tried to skitter away from her down the rock. She ducked and stayed with it, but then its jaws were descending toward her and she had to push herself quickly up the slope. Its head twisted, coming at her from over its spiny back, so she scuttled underneath again and jabbed for its stomach. This time her blade went deep and ripped, sending blood gushing down toward the water. A bit splashed onto Zelda, scalding her hands.

The thing bellowed, thrashing for a moment before bringing its head back to bear on Zelda. Then it jerked, its attention turning to her right; Naizhen was darting between its front legs, her knife gleaming with its blood.

Suddenly the creature let loose a roar that sounded more like a scream and went rigid. Its head whipped toward its tail again. Zelda stabbed at its belly, but while it jerked a step away from the strike, its angry stare didn't waver. Whatever Link was doing, it had this thing's full attention. It snarled, the muscles in its neck coiling, and then snapped forward—

A shuddering wave passed through its body. All of its muscles went loose and it collapsed onto its side, rolling down the slope into the water. The water turned to steam around the creature, hissing up into the air.

Zelda scrambled around the slope of the stalagmite, using her hands to help steady her balance. She didn't see Link on the other side. "Link?"

No answer. Her heart slammed against her ribcage. "Link!" She skittered down to the edge of the rock.

About ten feet below, Link lay in a steaming puddle of water, quickly evaporating around him. She couldn't make him out clearly through the white haze, but she thought that he looked burned. Sliding to the edge of the sheer drop, Zelda let herself fall, splashing down into a squat that made her knees protest. She heard something else land behind and shot a glance over her shoulder, but it was just Naizhen.

"Link." Her stomach turned as she moved closer to him, reaching a hand out over him but then snatching it away. Shiny red skin blistered over his neck and cheek and peeked through sections of his tunic that had burned away. Zelda opened one of the pouches on her belt and reached for a potion, then jerked her hand back as something stung her fingers. She hissed and reached in more carefully.

"Goddess," Naizhen breathed. She squatted next to Zelda, her expression drawn with concern. "Is he…?"

"He'll be fine," Zelda said brusquely, or tried to, though her voice cracked. She drew out a stopper and the shards of broken glass extending from its vial's rim. Her heart sank somewhere below her knees. They must have broken when she hit the stone path in her leap from the column. She shifted through the wet glass in her pouch, looking for one that was intact, but found nothing.

"Here." Naizhen reached for a pouch on Link's belt, opening it and drawing out a blessedly full bottle of healing potion. "You're looking for this?"

Zelda nodded and took the bottle, then shifted so that she could slide a hand under Link's head and lift. "Pull the cork?" she asked. Naizhen's fingers were around the stopper instantly, and with a quick yank it was free. Zelda pressed the mouth of the bottle to Link's lips. "I need you to drink," she murmured.

Link groaned and relief washed through her. If he could groan, he could drink. She tilted the glass. Link swallowed, a grimace furrowing between his eyebrows.

Once the bottle was empty, Zelda passed it back to Naizhen and then waited, tense. It took long enough that she was afraid nothing would happen, but then she saw the angry red burns lightening, turning more of a pink color. The blackened edges where his clothing had burned away turned red. Link groaned again and struggled, pushing himself into a sitting position. "I don't know which is worse," he complained, but he put the lie to the statement by drawing another potion from his belt pouch and downing it in a single gulp.

A heady buzz swept through Zelda, making her head light. To cover a choked noise of relief, she asked, "What happened?"

Link stoppered the empty bottle and looked around. The steam was beginning to clear from around them, and all of the water was gone. The worst of the burn receded from his skin, but it did leave his skin angry and irritated, like the worst sunburn in Hyrule history. "Ah!" He pushed himself to his feet and strode a few yards away, bending to retrieve something—his sword. He brandished it and grinned, then winced. "I pinned its tail to the rock," he said. "Drove the sword down through it. Then I tackled the tail down into the water."

That explained the burns. Zelda let out a long breath. Naizhen shook her head and actually laughed, a low, rough chuckle. "You're crazy," she said. "You have no fear at all, do you?"

"He doesn't," Zelda agreed. "Guardian of Courage and all."

"Kind of comes with the job, I guess," Link said, putting his hands on his hips. But the words sounded a little flat. Zelda knew well the toll Link's courage could take on him. She also knew, as perhaps he didn't, that the job actually came with the courage, not the other way around.

"Whatever you say." Like Link, Naizhen's words came out a little dark.

"What's that?" Link was staring past Zelda, and he raised a hand to point. She turned to look.

The pendragon's nest stood atop a rounded room with an altar at the center, marble columns holding the roof up. The stalagmite must have formed on top after many years. On the altar, a sword glowed around the edges with red light. There was an inscription on a plaque before it.

Zelda passed between the columns into the altar room. She bent to read the plaque: "'The fuel of the brightest flame is the righteous rage that waits within.'" Her expression pinched and she looked over at Link.

"Don't look at me," he said. "You're the Guardian of Wisdom. This is definitely your area."

She shook her head and glanced at the weapon. It was a large sword, definitely a two-hander for Link. It wouldn't be practical for her to try to use it. "This one is for you, I think."

He grabbed the sword hilt, but when he pulled, it didn't budge. "Uh. Is there a trick to this?"

At the top of the plaque, around a thin metal knob, Zelda saw a ring of some sort of red gemstone flecked with black and orange. Some type of garnet, perhaps? It looked like it could be removed. "Maybe you should try taking this?" she asked.

Link stepped closer, warming the air between them. When he pulled the ring from its place, the sword vanished like a wisp of smoke. He met Zelda's eyes, shrugged, and then tried the ring on one of his fingers. It took a couple of tries, but eventually he gave a grin. "It fits perfectly there," he said, lifting his right hand. The ring was snug around his index finger. He ran his thumb along the smooth edge and then said, "Huh."

"What?" Zelda asked.

He held his left hand out to the side and ran his thumb along the ring again. This time the sword from the altar appeared in his outstretched hand. "It's tied to the ring," he said.

"That's… useful," Naizhen said.

A ring of red light bloomed from the ground on the other side of the altar, giving off a tone like a finger rubbing the edge of a water glass. "That's probably our exit." Zelda circled the altar to stand at the edge of the light.

"Ladies first," Link said.

Zelda shot him a dry grin, but she stepped across the barrier first. Naizhen and Link followed her, and then they were rising. Weightlessness floated through Zelda's stomach. They seemed to have no substance as they passed right through the roof of the altar room. As they rose, she saw the balanced cavern stretch out below them; all the water was gone, leaving only a field of fire and hundreds of twinkling braziers disappearing into the distance.

And then she passed through a barrier that offered a bit of resistance, something close to what she imagined it was like for a soap bubble the moment before it popped. She blinked, and she was atop Death Mountain, stepping out onto the fractured caldera. A vast canopy of stars stretched above. In the east, the faintest hint of color feathered against the horizon.

"Princess!" It was Kale's voice, sleepy. Zelda found his silhouette in the dark and crossed to the volcano's rim next to him. Sheik stirred nearby, curled against the slope facing away from them, and she heard Link and Naizhen behind her. Closer, she could make out hints of Kale's features. His eyes gleamed with starlight as he looked her up and down. "You've seen better days."

She chuckled. "I have," she agreed. "But today we slew a dragon, and that's a first."


End file.
